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
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 7, 2023, cycle-A ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’ (Jn 14:1). These words open the gospel for this Sunday. Of course, our hearts are going to be troubled. This is part of our human nature and being ‘troubled’ will happen over and over again for […]
Chapter Talk – Second Sunday of Easter – April 16, 2023, cycle-A This is Divine Mercy Sunday, and it is the Second Sunday of Easter. This gospel is always given for the Eucharist following Easter. It describes two encounters: the first is the appearance of Jesus to the disciples where he first says, ‘peace be […]
Chapter Talk – 6th Sunday of the Year – May 22, 2022, cycle-C We are still in the Easter season: the gospel reading of this Sunday and the gospel readings we heard during the week give us profound images for lectio, indeed for our lives. Some of these images are peace, abiding, the commandment of […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 15, 2022, cycle-C We meet the Risen One in the encounter of love, an encounter that includes forgiveness, receiving a deeper, fuller truth, and a way of being that is broader than the one we are living now. The encounter is about meeting the One who […]
Chapter talk – 4th Sunday of Easter – May 8, 2022, cycle-C “Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they shall follow me’” (Jn 10:27). And then this later passage from John’s gospel: “I shall not call you servants any more….but friends” (Jn 15:15). We are friends because we are known […]
Chapter Talk – Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 9, 2021, cycle-B Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar comments on Sunday’s gospel: “‘Remain in my love.’ These words are to remain alive in the hearts of believers, permitting Jesus to address us inwardly in heart and conscience long after he no longer lives among us outwardly” […]
Chapter Talk – Ascension – May 24, 2020 – cycle-A The solemnity of the Ascension: now there is no more separation between heaven and earth, they are one…now there is no separation between our earthly lives and the heavenly life….all creation and humanity are now contained within the total mystery of God. The sending of […]
Chapter talk – Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 17, 2020, cycle-A “Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me; and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn14:21). Christ is made visible when we ‘receive […]
Chapter Talk – Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2020, cycle-A I have been reading Bonnie Thurston’s book, Shaped By the End You Live For. She quotes material from Thomas Merton that I have not read before and you will hear more of these pithy texts in a moment. I like to return to […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 3, 2020, cycle-A I begin with these words of Thomas Merton: “Prayer itself is obedience. Our deepest obedience takes place when we pray. Prayer is an act of surrender; it is essentially an act of surrender to God’s love” (quoted in: Shaped By the End You […]
Chapter Talk – Third Sunday of Easter – April 26, 2020 – cycle-A The present pandemic has turned our lives, world-wide, upside down. Covid-19 has affected the global community and its economies in ways that none of us have lived through before now. Through the pandemic we see how interconnected we all are. Are not […]
Second Sunday of Easter – April 19, 2020 – cycle-A ‘Peace be with you’…as Jesus says these consoling words, he shows his disciples his wounds. What is this saying? The Risen One is not separate from his wounds; he is not separate from suffering, a suffering that opens the way for Life, Life in its […]
Chapter Talk – Ascension – June 2, 2019, cycle-C He is departing so that he may be with us always, through the Spirit…Departing and then returning in another way….a way that asks us to be aware, present, listening, listening in the monastic sense of ‘listening with the ear of the heart’. This new encounter with […]
Chapter Talk – 5th Sunday of Easter – May 19, 2019, cycle-C “I am giving you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you too must love one another” (Jn 13:34). What is new about this commandment that Jesus left his disciples with and he leaves us with? We […]
Chapter Talk – Fourth Sunday of Easter – May 12, 2019 – cycle-C ‘Faith and Recognition’: could these two words together encapsulate what the Easter season calls us to? From the second Sunday after Easter where we have the appearance before Thomas whose weak faith takes a huge leap when he recognizes Jesus in and through […]
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
