ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

Penitent Saint Jerome Lucas Franchoys the Younger:   Flemish,  17th century Used with permission from The Met Collection I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: “Search the Scriptures,” and “Seek and you shall find.” For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. ~Saint Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, later known as Jerome, was born in the town of Stridon, somewhere in the Balkans. Thirty years before Jerome’s birth, Emperor Constantine legalized the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire, but many still clung to Roman and Greek religions and philosophies. Jerome had at least one brother, and the two were raised by good Christian parents who believed in the importance of education.  While Jerome was in his mid- to late-teens, his parents sent him to Rome to s...

The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition. Who are they?  St. Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit;’ if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel:’ from what they are, ‘spirit,’ from what they do, ‘angel’” (St. Augustine, En. in   Ps. 103 ,   1 ,   15 : PL 37, 1348). With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word” ( Mt 18:10 ;   Ps 103:20 ). As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendour of their glory bears witness. ~Catechism of the C...

FAMOUS QUOTES "If God is the center of your life, no words are necessary. Your mere presence will touch hearts." " We should strive to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God." "Let us allow God to act; He brings things to completion when we least expect it." "All beginnings are somewhat strange; but we must have patience, and little by little, we shall find things, which at first were obscure, becoming clearer." " The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it." "Fear not; calm will follow the storm, and perhaps soon."

Pope Felix presents church to Cosmas and Damian Created: early 1600s Public Domain Today, the Church honors Saints Cosmas and Damian—twin brothers, physicians, and martyrs who have been widely venerated in the East and West since the time of their deaths. Little is known for certain about these saints. What we do know is that they were martyrs, most likely under Roman Emperor Diocletian. What has come down to us by way of legend, however, offers an inspiring witness of faith and courage from the early Church. Cosmas and Damian might have been born in Cyrrhus, modern-day Syria, and later moved to the Gulf of Iskenderun in Cilicia, modern-day Turkey, in the mid- to late-third century. They were twins, sons of a Christian mother and possibly a Christian father, who raised them in the faith. They were educated in the science of healing and became physicians. At that time, physicians were often paid based on their reputations. Those who were highly skilled and successful often catered to th...

25 th SUNDAY in OT-A (Is 55.6-9; Phil 1.20c-24.27a; Mt 20.1-16a) 24 September 2023 W e are struck from the outset in today’s gospel by the love for his vineyard of this “landowner” or, literally, this “master of the house” (oikodespotês) . The protagonist of the parable is portrayed as reflecting God as Lord of his “house”, which is simultaneously each soul, the Church, and the whole cosmos. The whole universe, in fact, is God’s personal domain, and over it he exercises authority by right of ownership and covenanted love. Scaling this cosmic relationship down to human size, Isaiah says that “the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel”, and that the inhabitants of Judah are “his beloved plantation” (5:7). The preferential love of God for his people clearly forms the background of this parable, which we find only in the Gospel of Matthew.   The landowner’s passion for his vineyard emerges gradually in the narrative. Although the owner is clearly in full control of the...

Born into a poor Italian farm family, from a young age Francesco Forgione desired to be a friar. When he was sixteen, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Order, and took the name Brother Pius (Fra Pio). He was ordained to the priesthood in 1910; six years later, joined the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo. He spent many hours every day hearing Confessions. The height of his apostolic commitment was the celebration of the Holy Mass. He described himself as “a poor brother who prays.” “Prayer is the greatest weapon we have,” he said. It is “a key to open the heart of God.” In 1948, Padre Pio heard the Confession of a young Polish priest, Father Karol Wojtyła, who thirty years later would ascend the throne of Peter, taking the name John Paul II. It was during John Paul’s pontificate that Padre Pio was declared blessed. During the rite of beatification, the Pope said that in the humble friar, we see the image of Christ suffering and risen. “His body,” he sai...

St. Mattew (BAV)  (© Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) Lake Tiberias sparkled and, as usual, Matthew was there, sitting at the custom desk at Capernaum, to collect the taxes that the Jews had to pay to the Romans. He was a publican, despised by the people because he was considered in league with the oppressors. Probably, Matthew had become accustomed to it, but that day he heard a different voice. A man told him, “Follow me,” and Matthew got up and followed the man ever after. That man was Jesus, and Matthew’s life was no longer as before. Levi organized a great banquet for Jesus, who went with his disciples, stirring up the scorn of scribes and Pharisees because there were in attendance publicans and sinners. Jesus’ answer greatly touched Matthew. “They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick,” said the Nazarene, adding, “For I came not to call the just, but sinners.” Matthew, who was a sinner, left everything and followed Jesus, becoming one of the Twelve....

An unlikely beginning When, around the year 1777, a small group of Korean scholars began to study Christian writings brought into their country from China, something happened that is difficult to explain as anything other than a work of God. A spark was ignited. Pondering the words, some were “cut to the heart,” like the crowds listening to the apostles in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 2:37). In 1784, one of them traveled to China, found a priest, and asked for baptism. When he returned to his country, the spark became a fire. Person to person, friend to friend, this new faith spread. A Chinese priest was finally able to visit Korea in 1794. There, he found 4,000 believers! In fifty years, this community, poor in the sacraments but rich in faith, grew to 10,000. Korean authorities were not pleased by this “foreign” religion. The authorities’ cruelty was great, but the faith of these new believers was greater, for in them was a fire, a love and a life that did not have its source in man. The prie...

Today’s Gospel also speaks to us of service. It shows us two servants who have much to teach us: the servant of the centurion whom Jesus cures and the centurion himself, who serves the Emperor. The words used by the centurion to dissuade Jesus from coming to his house are remarkable, and often the very opposite of our own: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof” (7:6); I did not presume to come to you” (7:7); “I also am a man set under authority” (7:8). Jesus marvels at these words. He is struck by the centurion’s great humility, by his  meekness . (…) Given his troubles, the centurion might have been anxious and could have demanded to be heard, making his authority felt. He could have insisted and even forced Jesus to come to his house. Instead, he was modest, unassuming and meek; he did not raise his voice or make a fuss. He acted, perhaps without even being aware of it, like God himself, who is “meek and humble of heart” ( Mt...

To even begin to understand this morning’s parable, we really have to do the math. The sum the debtor owes the king, blandly translated as “a huge amount,” is in the original Greek an astounding 10,000 talents. A single talent was worth about 6,000 denarii. A whole day’s work was required to earn just one denarius. So, 6,000 denarii or one talent amounts to at least 20 years of hard daily labor. To repay the 10,000 talents in the parable, the servant would have to work for about 200,000 years! It is this absolutely impossible debt that is forgiven by the compassionate king in today’s Gospel. It is absurd for the servant to say that he will “pay back everything.” As a day laborer, he had no hope of ever repaying such a debt. It’s ridiculous, and he knows it. And so does the king, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Deeply moved by the servant’s pleading, feeling this pity even in his very guts, the king forgives him the entire gigantic loan. We can well imagine the astonishment of the crow...

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home   (Jn 19:25-27). Affidamento Seeing His Mother, Jesus entrusts her to the beloved disciple. This almost represents His last will and testament. It makes Mary the Mother of the disciple, and makes the disciple the Mother’s son. “He took her into his home”, that is, into his most intimate place, into everything he holds most dear. Jesus did not leave His Mother alone. He entrusted her to the care of his beloved disciple, to the one who followed him to the last. Woman The same word is used as at Cana, almost as if there is a connection between the two passages. At Cana, Jesus’s hour had not yet come, whereas on the Cross, it had. The Cross becomes the e...

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” ( Jn  3:14-15). This is the decisive shift: the serpent that saves has now come among us. Jesus, lifted up on the pole of the cross, does not allow the poisonous serpents that attack us to cause our death. Confronting our misery, God gives us a new horizon: if we keep our gaze fixed on Jesus, the sting of evil can no longer prevail over us, for on the cross he took upon himself the venom of sin and death, and crushed their destructive power. That was the Father’s response to the spread of evil in the world: he gave us Jesus, who drew near to us in a way we could never have imagined. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin” ( 2 Cor  5:21). Such is the infinite grandeur of divine mercy: Jesus “became sin” for our sake. Jesus, we could say, on the cross “became a serpent”, so that by gazing upon him we might resist the poisonous b...

The Silent Rhetorician John was born in 347 in Antioch and was baptized there more than twenty years later. Under the pagan teacher Libanius, he learned rhetoric and Greek literature. He reportedly so impressed his teacher that as Libanius lay dying, he lamented that John could have been his successor as master of rhetoric, “if the Christians had not stolen him from us.” That gift with language that had so impressed Libanius would indeed be put to use, into a service far greater than any master rhetorician could hope for – but not before it had been purified with fasting and prayer. John became a hermit, coming to know his Lord in the silence of prayer. He did penance and at the same time savored Sacred Scripture, committing most of it to memory. The golden-mouthed preacher When poor health forced his return to Antioch, his gift with words, now purified by years of silent meditation on God’s Word, came alive again. John, ordained a priest, began to preach in Antioch’s cathedral. People...