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
Jesus says in today’s gospel (Jn 15:9-17), “Remain in my love.” This is a declaration….it is spare in words, simple on one level to understand. Imagine yourself in an encounter with Jesus in prayer and out of the silence these words come: “Remain in my love.” Jesus goes on to tell us ‘how’ we remain […]
Chapter Talk – Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022, cycle-C What word or words would we use to depict the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery we are celebrating today? The one essential word is ‘relationship’. And endemic within relationship is the power of ‘love’. The love reality is what makes relationship true, opening […]
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 – Holy Thursday – April 14, 2022 Today, Holy Thursday, which opens the Triduum, gives us two important rituals that reflect the heart and meaning of these holy days, these final days building towards Jesus’ death and resurrection. These rituals are Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and Jesus offering his body […]
Chapter Talk – 28th Sunday of the Year – October 10, 2021 – cycle-B Within the ‘love command’ of God there is a ‘demand’…the demand is to ‘sell all’. This ‘demand’ to sell all is not easy…still ‘with God all things are possible’. It seems that ‘virtue’ is not enough, that is the virtuous living […]
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 – Fifth Sunday of Lent – March 21, 2021, cycle-B Listen to God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah: “This is the new covenant I will make: Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts” (Jer 32: 31,33). What is a covenant? It is a relationship between God and […]
Chapter Talk – 33rd Sunday of the Year – November 15, 2020, cycle-A The gospel reading for this Sunday is the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30). The talents are distributed to three persons: one gets five, the second two, and the third one talent, “each according to their ability”. According to Sr. Carolyn Osiek […]
Chapter Talk – October 18, 2020 – 29th Sunday of the Year, cycle-A “Contemplation…leads us to an attitude of care….,” says Pope Francis (September 16, 2020). Have you, have I ever thought that this is one important fruit of a contemplative practice? The ‘care’ Pope Francis is referring to is care for one another and […]
Chapter Talk – 23rd Sunday of the Year – September 6, 2020, cycle-A “If your brother or sister sins against you…” (Mt 18:15): what are we to do? This is the theme for this Sunday’s Eucharist. All three readings circle around this theme. On the surface, the response about what to do may appear simple…It […]
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 […]
“Love, genuine love, is liberated through gratitude.” Sr. Kathy DeVico, Chapter Talk for the Feast of Christ the King, Every year at Thanksgiving we pause to reflect deeply on the blessings we have received: the myriad ways God has touched us individually, communally, and as extended community to our family, friends and well-wishers. This year we are most thankful for the life […]
Chapter Talk – Christ the King – November 24, 2019, cycle-C What is the importance of ‘thanksgiving’ on the spiritual journey? We can as well frame the question this way: what is the importance of ‘thanksgiving’ for the blossoming of our humanity? In other words, does the offering of ‘thanksgiving’ have anything to do with our […]
Chapter Talk – November 17, 2019 – 33rdSunday of the Year – cycle-C I received from Abbot Damian of Spencer a copy of his homily that he gave last week for the funeral Mass of Br. Meinrad. He concluded his homily with the following: “I’ll let St. Therese and Fr. Thomas Keating have the final […]
“What God longs for us to do is to live in the truth Jesus reveals. This means believing in God’s absolute, unconditional love, not in a notional way but one that transforms our attitudes and whole approach to life” (Essence of Prayer, p.51-52). These words of the Carmelite Ruth Burrows would delight St. Bernard whose feast we […]
Fourth Sunday of LentI like to begin with the last sentence from the gospel of this Sunday and then move to the beginning two sentences of the same gospel. The last sentence reads: ‘Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his or her works may be clearly seen as done in God’ […]
What does the Incarnation bring us? St Joseph with the Child JesusLove, God’s love: At the center of Christmas is the mystery of God’s Love. Are we aware of the immensity of this gift? Are we aware of the implications this Love brings to and for our lives, and for our world? This Love brings intimacy […]
30stSUNDAY in ORDINARY TIME – A – October 29, 2017 br. Daniël[Ex 22:20-26; 1Thess1:5c-10; Mt 22:34-40] Jesus is involved in a series of debates with the Jewish religious leaders. As soon as the Pharisees learn that Jesus has silenced the Sadducees, one of them comes up with a new question: ‘Teacher, which commandment in the […]
In February we had conferences on John Ruusbroeck, the Flemish mystic of the late 13th / 14th century. I was struck by a question that was posed to us during the course of the week. I thought and felt then, that this question could provide a fruitful entrance into Jesus’ passion and resurrection, and even […]
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
