ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

Some time ago now, there was a news article about a billionaire who told Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York that unless the Cardinal convinced Pope Francis to put an end to his Marxist language and his constant harping about the poor and migrants, he, the billionaire, would not go through with his pledge to donate over two hundred million dollars to the restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Cardinal Dolan did not, of course, co-operate. Listen to this papal pronouncement inspired by today's gospel of the Rich Man and Lazarus that would probably infuriate our  billionaire: “Life in many poor countries is still extremely insecure as a consequence of food shortages, and the situation could become worse: Hunger still reaps enormous numbers of victims among those who, like Lazarus, are not permitted to take their place at the rich man's table... Feed the hungry is an ethical imperative for the universal Church, as she responds to the  teachings of her Founder, the Lord ...

Sunday, September 29, marks the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Pope Francis has made the rights of migrants and refugees one of the focal points of his pontificate, and he has invited everyone "to express, even through prayer, our closeness to migrants in refugees worldwide.” We are invited to remember all displaced persons and victims of trafficking, since their well being concerns all of us as one human family. We are called to share through acts of love and prayer our compassion for all those in need.  Picture by Brother Brian.

Silence may be considered from various points of view: as passive non-speaking, as an interior disposition of recollection, as a combat against our inner thoughts. The emphasis in our Constitutions is on silence as restraint in speech, which often proves to be the better part of communication and an effective means towards more truthful and humble living.  Silence can also be a powerful and indispensable act of self-relinquishment, of letting go of myself, which opens me to God and to others. Concretely, the practice of interior silence means that I let go of the tapes that play in my head; the narratives, movies and fantasies that preoccupy my mind. Silencing the inner racket is a great discipline of letting go of what ties me up and distracts me from what I really love and believe in. In the final analysis whether we really maintain silence is not proven by the fewness of our words but by our ability to let go of ourselves .  It makes possible a new openness to God a...

Works of love directed to one's neighbor are the most perfect external manifestation of the internal grace of the Spirit.   Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium Lord Jesus, help us to follow your Spirit's invitations in small ways and great all during this day. Pictures by Brother Brian.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ..From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.  We remember today Padre Pio, visibly, painfully marked by the wounds of Jesus. This was his unique privilege.   In a far less dramatic but nevertheless quite real way, each of us bear our own wounds, unseen but very real. And our wounds too are Jesus’ wounds. The Lord would not have it otherwise. We too are marked with him, for him. 

It is precisely to bolster our hope that God reveals this truth to us, that “…he wills everyone to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth…” How often the Biblical writers cry out to God to save them, especially the psalmists: “Rescue me, O God…deliver us…free us…forgive us our sins…O God our Savior…O God of our salvation…” Their hope was that God would take them out of a dangerous situation and the risk of perishing. They turned to God for protection, for healing, for peace – and we do the same, especially when we are in distress. But how exactly does God save us? He reveals the truth to us, the truth about ourselves. Without this truth, we may think we have no need for salvation. We may have all the money in the world, but if we do not know and accept the truth, it will do us no good. The way that God reveals the truth to us is by speaking through prophets, or religious superiors, or friends, or even enemies who tell us the truth about ourselves (even if we’d rather no...

Seeing over and over again the truth of who we are, our struggles and the leftover dreams that still nag and clog our sensibilities, we wonder, "How can God be so patient with us?" But the Lord our God looks into the depths of our hearts.   God understands. And best of all in Christ Jesus, our Lord and God has come to be with us and call us to life, and remind us who we are in God's eyes - always beloved children. Then even more we are filled with wonder. And we want to cry out as did Saint Catherine of Siena: O eternal beauty! O eternal goodness, O eternal mercy! O mad lover! You have need of your creature? It seems so to me, for you act as if you could not live without her. Why then are you so mad? Because you have fallen in love with what you have made! You are pleased and delighted over her within yourself, as if you were drunk with desire for her salvation. She runs away from you and you go looking for her. She strays and you draw closer to her. What shall ...

On one day each month we celebrate the Office and Mass for the Dead, praying for our relatives, friends, benefactors and brethren who have died.  As Father William reminded us at this morning’s Mass, death will be our ultimate experience of true poverty. And our life in the monastery is a kind of practice in embracing our poverty and total dependence on God in Christ. Each day we read about so much tragedy, so many senseless killings, in our nation and around the world. Too many broken hearts, so many grieving. We stand in prayerful solidarity with them all, as we trust in the Lord Jesus who has embraced our poverty and our death and promises us eternal life with him.  Photograph by Brother Brian.

  This morning we hear again the story of the foolish extravagance of the father’s love, his prodigal love. There was a very prosperous man with two sons, so the story begins. Soon we see the younger son coming to his father with a misguided request. “Please give me my share. I want what’s coming to me.” The boy’s is self-assured but blinded to love’s responsibilities. And so, he’s off with his share of the estate- in Hebrew law, one third of the estate - since he is the younger son. It’s an incredibly large amount of money. And he wastes it all. Then there’s a famine. And now the boy gets so desperate, he's happy to feed pigs. And so he makes himself totally unclean! And he's starving; but even more it seems, he is longing for someone to notice; yearning to be loved back to life. For, Jesus tells us, “No one made a move to give him anything.” And then this bright idea: “I will be a servant. I don’t deserve anything. I have messed up totally, but I will return. How ma...

This ancient sign of horror and excruciating torture has become for us a tree of life. For the precious blood of Jesus our Lord has  drenched its branches . We rejoice under the cross, because by his cross Jesus has rescued us from sin and shame and death. So it is that Saint Paulinus of Nola will chant to the cross, "You have become for us a ladder for us to mount to heaven." And in an anonymous Easter homily inspired by Hippolytus, the tree of the cross reverses the destruction wrought by the tree of Eden:  For me this tree is a plant of eternal health. I feed on it; by its roots I am rooted; by its branches I spread myself; I rejoice in its dew; the rustling of its leaves invigorates me...I freely enjoy its fruits which were destined for me from the beginning. It is my food when I am hungry, a fountain for me when I am thirsty; it is my clothing because its leaves are the spirit of life.   We exalt in the Cross of Christ, for this Cross is a royal throne upon ...

Today the Church celebrates the name of Mary, a name we call on in all of our needs. As the poet Hopkins assures us, Mary has "one work to do - let all God's glory through." Her desire is always to bring us closer to her Son. As Saint Bernard will remind us: If squalls of temptations arise, or you fall upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you are tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of your soul, turn your eyes towards Mary. If, troubled by the greatness of your sins, ashamed of your guilty conscience, terrified by dread of judgment, you begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary; call upon Mary. Let her be ever on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her ...

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  Luke 14 In his impassioned words this morning, Jesus speaks to us of the high cost of our discipleship. He wants our love for him and the Kingdom to transform all our relationships and ways of being and acting. There is to be no space, no part of our lives that is to be separate from him and his love. Jesus points us to the cross, to his excruciating self-offering in all its bitterness and pain. There on the cross his infinite mercy and compassion will burst all bounds. Baptized into him, Jesus wants us with him, embracing our own crosses. Our self-offering joined to that of Jesus will make us with him a source of life and hope for all. The cross is a bridge, a gateway. In Jesus' death, death will die, for the Father will not allow...

God only wants to be ordinary. It is why Jesus has come, God with us, near us, in us. The ordinary is charged forever with his kind, incessant presence. God longs to be ordinary, not taken for granted, but here, always here with us. Why else would he choose to be a child, why else a small town carpenter and a wandering teacher? Why else allow himself to be done in by thugs and jealous bureaucrats? Why else choose to be hidden in a morsel of bread on our altar? God in Christ delights to be with us - "ordinary, obscure and laborious."  Our ordinary life allows us to accompany Christ Jesus in his ordinariness. Photograph of Brother Matthew Joseph by Kathleen Trainor.

At the feast in the Kingdom, the guest list includes the old woman in the moth-eaten fur coat who carries her kingdom in plastic bags, the crippled man who hobbles when others walk briskly by, the blind who long for the warmth of a fire they cannot see, the lonely ones who never get invited anywhere. These are the ones who will be led to the seats of honor in the Kingdom, the little ones who cannot return invitations but nonetheless long for the company that table fellowship provides. Jesus embraces these people into importance. In the upside-down world of the Kingdom, what appears to be foolishness is great wisdom and beauty. The love of Jesus looks beyond appearances; it pierces disguises and dignifies the lowly. Let us love like this always. Photograph by Brother Brian. Meditation extracted from a homily by Father Aquinas.

Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? Luke 4 Indeed, what is it about the word of Jesus? How his word consoles and heals us; rouses us from our drowsy complacency and despondency. Jesus' word breaks in, comes to dead ends and says, “Enough. Be quiet.” For God’s word is divinely efficacious. Jesus is the Word made flesh and what he opens no one can close. We listen attentively when he speaks to us. 

What are we to do, for we all love our favorite guests? Perhaps not to have this uncle or that once-friendly friend come would be OK. But certainly  we delight to feed  those others we like  with what we have most carefully prepared. Jesus great Concierge, says no, that old list will not do, instead invite those who cannot possibly have you over to their place next week or thereafter. Invite hobbling cripples and lonely widows, blind eyes who can yet smell and taste our fare. Such is the kind of guest list in the Kingdom. We should have remembered after all; those were the first invited when his birth was announced. It was unheard of at the time, for the custom in the ancient world, long before engraved announcements or telephones or iPhone or email, was that when a baby was born to a respectable family, messengers would be sent out to announce the birth to the “right sort of people,” friends of the family’s social class in the best neighborhoods of the city. ...