ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

The community mourns the passing of our Father Kizito. Born Earl Anthony Thompson in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1940, Father Kizito served the monastery as infirmarian, cellarer and porter. He passed to the Lord on Wednesday, November 28 at 4:10 in the afternoon. As soon as Father Prior received the sad news, two of the brothers went to the church and began tolling the bells of the Abbey for the deceased.

Morning light dapples the wall of the upper dormitory landing in this photograph taken by Brother Joseph.

After Jesus has fed the  five thousand  the Gospel writer tells us, “When the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone." As we celebrate Christ as King today, it is wise and wonderful to remember this scene. For “King” may be a title we need- to remind us of the place we want Jesus to have in our lives, in our hearts- but if we are not clear about who Jesus really is, he may elude us and withdraw. King is a dangerous title after all, all about domination and power. And it is simply not a title Jesus chooses for himself. In the trial scene in John’s Gospel, Pilate asks Jesus, “Then you are a king?” Jesus’ response, “You say I am a king,” is not an affirmation like, “You’ve said it!” Scholars tell us that it is probably something like, “Call me a king, if...

No one shows greater mercy than he who lays down his life for those who are judged and condemned. My merit therefore is the mercy of the Lord. Surely I am not devoid of merit as long as he is not devoid of mercy. And if the Lord abounds in mercy, I too must abound in merits. But what if I am aware of my many failings? Then, where failings abounded, grace abounded all the more. And if the mercies of the Lord are from eternity to eternity, I for my part will chant the mercies of the Lord forever. Quoting this passage from Saint Bernard, Father Luke reminded us in his Sunday homily that we have every reason to be filled with hope even as we look ahead to our individual “ends” and ultimately to the end of the world. If we seem to be “flunking” out in the school of life and falling flat on our faces as we try to run in the way of his commandments, God only loves us more and more. For when he looks with love on the Son of God, he sees all of us in his beloved Son. We too are his belove...

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. This moving collect prayer for the Thirty-third Sunday of the Year reminds us that serving God is our joy. We may have thought in the past that surrendering our will would entail unbearable hardship. We come to discover that choosing to obey and to serve grants joy and freedom. Jesus said, "I have not come to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." Pleasing the Father was Jesus' delight. May it be ours as well.

We celebrate the Mass and Office of Our Blessed Lady again on this Saturday. She is everywhere in the Abbey, her images and icons in sacred spaces and in the workplaces. Mary protects us and accompanies us; we trust in her powerful intercession. We place ourselves in your keeping, Holy Mother of God. Refuse not the prayer of your children in their distress, but deliver us from all danger, ever Virgin glorious and blessed. An etching by Margaret Walters, (1924 - 1971).

  The monks rent out a few of the Abbey fields to local farmers to cut for silage. In late autumn they took their final cut of the season.   Photographs by Brother Daniel. 

We share excerpts from this Sunday's homily: Context is everything. And clearly in this morning’s Gospel, the simplicity and generosity of a poor widow is contrasted with the ostentation and greed of Scribes, who “devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers.” Jesus is always on the side of the poor. And today it seems he is speaking out against the “temple establishment” who have “manipulated” this widow into parting with the pittance she has to live on. Jesus is truly God with us, who as the Psalmist sings: always, always defends the orphan and the widow. He is the tender mercy of the heart of God, a heart always magnetized by poverty and littleness. So then, we may wonder, is this poor widow to be imitated for her generosity or pitied as the hapless “victim of religious exploitation?” We can imagine her focus is simply on doing the right thing. Being generous is natural for this woman, and she wants to be in the mix, to do the communal act, g...

A monk ambles through the south cloister after our first snow of the season. Photograph by Brother Anthony Khan.

Frost on the grass in the light of the rising sun made millions of prisms, diamonds everywhere this morning.   We pray for our nation on this Election Day . Two cars are available all day for the monks to take trips to our polling place in downtown Spencer.

An older Italian man, the father of one of the monks used to say that, "Life is just a glance out the window." Indeed as the Psalmist says, "How fleeting is my life." Father Abbot reminded us this morning that, notwithstanding our confidence in the Lord's promise to take us to himself, death remains for each of us a great mystery. We pray for our deceased brethren, relatives, friends and benefactors on this All Souls Day. We hope to join them one day in Paradise. Lord , let me know my end, the number of my days, that I may learn how frail I am. To be sure, you establish the expanse of my days; indeed, my life is as nothing before you. Every man is but a breath. Lines from Psalm 39. Photograph by Brother Daniel.