ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

As we celebrate the great Apostles Peter and Paul, we recall the words of an ancient Latin hymn for this feast,  Aurea Luce. O happy Rome! Ruddied by the noble blood of these princes; It is not your praise, But their merits which excel All the beauty of the earth.

Last evening during Compline a terrific downpour, and then when we left the church for bed, we noticed a giant rainbow, sign of hope, joy and covenant. And we recalled God's words to Noah, " I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." Genesis 9.13 Photograph by Charles O'Connor.

God is constantly “acting on our behalf, out of love for us;” drawing us into our truest identity. And since God preserves the universe in being, we believe that he acts in and with every creature in each and all its activities. This is not to say we are stuck in some plan, some occult predestination, but that God is always, always calling, beckoning us, drawing us to himself, longing to fill us with himself, drawing us into the Trinity. We name this Divine Providence.* We are all invited to look back and notice the finger of God, to reflect on our own lives with a kind of road-back-to Jerusalem-from-Emmaus insight- “It was the Lord all the time, though I did not recognize him. It was you Lord, calling, using anything at all to bring me to you, to my truth, to the secret for which I was made.” It was, it is God’s finger in my life day in day out. In the end each of us can say with Isaiah, “The Lord called me from my mother’s womb; he pronounced my v...

Jesus tells us that “Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Here is what Saint Thérèse of Lisieux had to say about being a child before God at the end of her life, in her Last Conversations : “It is to recognize our nothingness, to expect everything from God as a little child expects everything from its father; it is to be disquieted about nothing, and not to be set on gaining our living…To be little is not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practices, believing oneself capable of anything, but to recognize that God places this treasure in the hands of his little child to be used when necessary; but it remains always God’s treasure. Finally, it is not to become discouraged over one’s faults, for children fall often, but they are too little to hurt themselves very much.”  Let us then show ourselves always ready to accept God’s kingdom, to receive the embrace and blessing of Jesus, by acknowledging our faults and our need ...

Each morning we pass these wildflowers, called white campion, on the edge of one of the Abbey pathways. The delicate articulation of their petals recalls the adage, "God is in the detail."  And indeed the following words from  the Book of Wisdom   remind us to leap ahead from beauty to Beauty: ...how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them. For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen. Once after noticing a wildflower, the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins noted in his journal, "I know the beauty of our Lord by it."

Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High. Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven. Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity. Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills. Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy. Heart of Jesus, rich to all who call upon Thee. Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance. Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation. The  compassionate  Jesus will always be the God with a b roken, open, wounded heart.   And so the invitation is to honestly even joyfully take ownership of our very real need for his mercy.   Our sinfulness can never estrange us from him, but instead lead us right into his broken heart, for he wants to heal and console us, if we will allow him. Jesus notices us, lost in our isolation and confusion, all the stuff that does not fit, and he rushes toward us without delay to take us to himself, even into his wounded side as refuge. God in Christ has lost himself in love for us. Let us open our hearts to him. ...

Numerous bunny rabbits have been sighted hopping around the monastic enclosure this year. We are glad to know they feel safe among us in this place. Praise be to Thee my Lord with all Thy creatures! Saint Francis of Assisi