ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst, you have no further misfortune to fear. On that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not, O Zion, be not discouraged! The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals. Like Our Blessed Lady, with Our Lady we too are tabernacles of the most High God; the Lord is within us. As the Lord rejoices over us, singing joyfully because of our openness to him, we rejoice greatly with Our Lady for all that the Lord in his mercy has done for us. The Visitation , c. 1495,  attributed to Rueland Frueauf the Elder, German (c. 1445 - 1507),  Oil on panel,  27 5/8 x 14 15/16 in., Fogg Museum. Lines from the Prophet Zephaniah 3.

Every year during Eastertide, we listen to excerpts from the Last Supper Discourse, about four chapters long in the second half of the Gospel of John, sections like this lovely one in today’s Gospel reading. "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them." We seem to eavesdrop on the prayer of Jesus the Beloved Son to his Father. Jesus draws us into the very heart of this prayer. There is surely a beauty to the language but also a circularit...

This morning Saint Luke relates that the Apostles and disciples returned to the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, waiting for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. They were to be clothed with power from on high so that they could witness to the marvel of the Risen Lord. And Luke says that Mary, the mother of the Lord, was there. Mary’s role in preparing the disciples for the coming of the Spirit was very important indeed, for in her the disciples could see that  what they were waiting and praying for– to be clothed with the Spirit– had already happened in Mary. The promise of the Father had already clothed her with power, the power that Jesus had: patient endurance; loving forgiveness; unshakable peace and joy– all fruits of the Spirit’s presence. The disciples realized that being clothed with the Spirit meant becoming something like Mary. Mary’s role in preparing for the Spirit goes deeper. She was like an open window given by the Spirit to gaze into the v...

Come, Creator Spirit, visit the minds of your children, and fill the hearts you have made, with heavenly grace. You are called the Comforter, the gift of God most high, living spring, and fire, love, and spiritual anointing.  You are sevenfold in your gifts, the finger of God’s right hand; you are the Father’s  true promise, endowing our tongues with speech.  Enkindle your light in our senses, infuse your life in our hearts; strengthen our bodies’ weakness by your never failing might. Drive far away our foe, and grant peace without end, that with you to lead us on, we may escape all harm.  Grant us, through you, to know the Father, also the Son; may we ever believe in you, the Spirit of them both. Amen. In preparation for the great Solemnity of Pentecost, we pray our novena to the Holy Spirit. And each evening at Vespers, we chant this ancient Latin hymn. We share a f...

We rejoice today as we remember Saint Philip Neri, ardent lover of the Lord and man of great joy and cheerfulness.  Known for his playful wit, he once remarked, "A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one." We love the story of a scrupulous Roman fashionista who came to him seeking counsel. She told Saint Philip that she feared she was too vain, as she was fond of wearing the high-heeled shoes that were all the rage. Philip told her his only fear was that she might fall down.  Saint Philip Neri , Carlo Dolci, Italian, 1645 or 1646, oil on canvas, 17 1/4 × 14 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Used with permission.

Numerous manuscript paintings, such as this one from the early thirteenth century, show the Apostles and Our Lady gazing up  at the feet of Jesus as he disappears into the heavens. We can imagine their sorrow and confusion. But we rejoice, for where he has gone, we hope to follow. His glorious Ascension into heaven is our destiny, our promised inheritance. As members of his Body, the Ascension of Jesus is the first moment of our own disappearance into God.  "I wish that where I am they also may be with me,  that they may see my glory that you gave me," we hear Jesus tell his Father . His love has the power to draws us where he is in glory, our work is to be utterly nonresistant to this love. Yes, angels tremble when they see   how changed is our humanity;   that flesh hath purged what flesh had stained,   and God, the flesh of God, hath reigned . Ascension in an Initial V,  Niccolò di Ser Sozzo (Sienese, active 1348– died 1363),  T...

Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.   John 16 Again today Jesus promises us his Spirit, the Spirit who will continue to reveal to us the more that God is. This more , this infinity of God’s self-communication, is ours in Christ Jesus. God in Christ ceaselessly pours himself out for us, to us, in us. Our work is constant openness,   incessant   availability to this  more that Jesus longs to bestow .