Gaudate Sunday 2024
December 17, 2024
Third Sunday of Advent —Gaudete Sunday We have come to Gaudete ( Rejoice ) Sunday, and the prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah in their writings call the Anawim, ( a people
As part of the OCSO General Chapter, participants, Abbots, Abbesses and delegates attended a Papal Audience. In his talk, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of dreams. Dom Bernardus, our newly elected Abbot General, opened this year’s chapter by inviting all the Superiors of our Order to share their dreams. Over the course of the […]
Chapter Talk – First Sunday of Lent – March 6, 2022, cycle-C “Without communion there is no mission”…Communion communicates mission….“Communion is the substance of mission”. What are these words of Dom Mauro Giuseppe saying to us? Is not the core of our mission as monastics communion, communion of heart and mind with God and one […]
Chapter Talk – Third Sunday of the Year – January 23, 2022, cycle-C For the readings of this Third Sunday, it is striking that two great voices and thinkers converge around one word: ‘today’. Those voices are Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar and Pope Francis. Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar in his commentary on the […]
Chapter Talk – 29th Sunday of the Year – October 17, 2021, cycle-B We want ‘glory’ but there is a cost. This is the essential message of today’s gospel. Jesus is addressed by James and John, two of his disciples, as ‘teacher’…and they add, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of […]
Chapter Talk – 32nd Sunday of the Year – November 8, 2020, cycle-A “To sorrow in the suffering of the world together may be what we need to embrace now, something beyond hope, deeper than hope, which is to honor our grief of a changing world. . . Rather than anchoring our hope beyond the […]
Sr. Godelieve Theys, OCSO, beloved sister of Redwoods Monastery died on June 16th, Trinity Sunday, just 12 days after her 96th birthday. She will be deeply missed by her community, her many friends and family. Sr. Godelieve was one of the founding sisters of Redwoods Monastery, arriving in 1963 from Our Lady of Nazareth in Brecht, […]
Today on this Solemnity of All Saints we have many things to be grateful for and to ponder. We celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of this monastery and honor our two sisters, Godelieve and Veronique, who were part of the beginning of this monastery and continue to be faithful witnesses through their monastic calling, […]
How do we build up community? How do we build up this body of Christ that we form? The body of Christ: this body of love, this body of forgiveness, this body of mercy…is this not what Jesus incarnated and now expects us to do the same? How do we build up this community? I […]
Today, Holy Trinity Sunday, bringing before us the all-encompassing mystery of God, a mystery that lives and sustains our world, humanity and creation. Last week for Pentecost Sunday I mentioned that one obstacle of the journey into the inner world, an obstacle which we all face, is that we can get too self-preoccupied, too caught […]
Third Sunday of Advent —Gaudete Sunday We have come to Gaudete ( Rejoice ) Sunday, and the prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah in their writings call the Anawim, ( a people
Monastery Lentils A popular Guest House recipe that is vegan, easy to make and packed with flavor. Recipe calls for dry herbs – but use fresh for extra flavor. Serve
A lot goes on in the world, but little changes in a monastery. The life is regular and is set by defined intervals of prayer, work, and study. We are
