Assumption Abbey

-The paradox in today’s Gospel is that the Lord Jesus both armed and disarmed His disciples for their missionary journey. He armed them with power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, but He disarmed them even of the necessary things for the journey such as a walking stick. -Christ’s instructions for the mission are still important even if few would be tempted to carry a walking stick. First, commitment to the redemptive mission is inseparable from the commitme

Lk 6:43-49 *A certain foreign building contractor wanted to give a government official a sports car, in order to help him get a big government project. -The official objected saying, “Sir, common decency, my Christian upbringing, the leadership code, and my basic sense of personal honor – all these would never permit me to accept a valuable gift like that. It would amount to bribery and corruption.” -The contractor pauses for a while & said, “I quite understand. But suppose

Lk 6:27–38 -In today’s Gospel, Our Lord sets before us an ideal so high that it seems almost to disappear beyond the horizon of human possibility: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.” There is something both glorious and terrifying in such a command. It draws us upward toward the very height of divine love, while at the same time bringing us down into the dust with the painful realization of how lit

1Cor. 4:1-5 Lk 5:33-39 -In answer to the accusation that His disciples were eating and drinking while the disciples of John and the Pharisees fasted frequently, Christ gives an answer that reaches far beyond the question of fasting itself: “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” -There is something marvelous in the way Christ proportioned the

Good Friday Today, we stand at the foot of the Cross. Good Friday is not a day of easy words or quick comfort. It is a day that invites us into silence, into sorrow, and into something deeper than we often allow ourselves to go. We gather not to celebrate, but to remember—to witness love poured out completely. On this day, we see Jesus betrayed, abandoned, mocked, and crucified. We hear His cry: “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ” These are not distant words. They e

Thursday of the Lord’s Supper (Year C) Ex. 12:1-8, 11-14; 1Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-15 Eucharist and Washing of Feet Life in Palestine...

Dear Friends, I fully intended to leave the Hermitage Spiritual Retreat Center on Monday the 10th. But at the end of the previous week a...

Christ Jesus could have regarded equality with God as something to be grasped or exploited, but He chose instead to be a human slave,...

Is. 9:1-3,5-7 Lk. 1:26-38 -The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary in today’s Gospel inaugurates “the fullness of time,” the time of...

Brothers, it is clear in today’s first reading that the radiance emanating from the skin of Moses’ face arose from his experience of a...

(John 20:1-2.11-18) -Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the woman whom the Lord had cast out seven demons, and whose...

One cold December morning in Russia in 1849, 20 political prisoners were lined up to be shot by a firing squad. But just before the order...

Holy Thursday (John 13:1-15) The Washing of the Disciples’ Feet Today is Holy Thursday and we come together in this Evening Mass of the...

-There had been lots of people who had written about St. Joseph. They did this primarily by meditating his dignity and integrity. -The...

Working in the wine house at Thien Phuoc monastery recently, I was enjoying a mid-morning break, with five or six other monks, when one...

-Many years ago Newsweek magazine carried a moving story. What first got you interested in the story was the photograph that accompanied...

Numbers 6:22-27/ Galatians 4:4-7/ Luke 2:16-21 -Every job has a title (job title), and with that title comes the dignity of the job and...

Good Friday In the passion story according to John which we have just heard, the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed...

-According to the “Status of Global Mission” report which is published by the international Bulletin of Missionary Research there were,...

Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, July 29 “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful, Mary has...