brett

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

The Annunciation or “announcement” to Mary, proclaiming God’s decision to make her the very Mother of God in the mystery of the Incarnation, is not only a scene from the Gospel and a mystery of the liturgical year; it is not simply an exquisite and larger-than-life icon of God’s majesty and loving kindness—though it is all of that (it is certainly all of that); it represents something more, more even than an encounter between Heaven and Earth in the fullness of time, at the dawn of Salvation; it is really a kind of school, a school of supernatural life—and, perhaps, just the school, the very school, the Church and the world stand in great need of these days. So, what can we learn at this […]

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

Today we celebrate the transitus of Our Blessed Father Saint Benedict, that is to say, his death, which was for him the “transit” or “transition” from mortal existence on this earth to the blessed life of Heaven. Unlike most human beings, this Saint, not only was fearless in the face of dying, but looked forward with unmistakable joy to what was to follow his experience here below. In this, he had a predecessor in the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who, although without the grace of the Christian faith, understood something of the enigma.

…[I]t seems to me natural, said the great man, that a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy should be cheerful in the face of death, and confident […]

But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

So deep is the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, that even the trivial and seemingly secondary elements of the narrative become larger than life on this night, whether it is the mention of a feed trough, a manger, of shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, or of some swaddling clothes for a baby. Amid this wonderland of marvelous things (that is to say of trivial things become wonders) there is a need not to miss the central point of it all, the great revelation to which all the rest is pointing. Christmas is, perhaps, the best time of year to exercise that most excellent faculty of the […]

Dominus possedit me in initio viarum suarum…The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything… (Book of Proverbs, chapter 8)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My Very Dear Sons,

It seems clear that we human beings (even monks) live increasingly like certain water insects that move about on the surface of water, not swimming, but resting upon the surface tension. We skim across information, receiving little or no wisdom, and we are ever more victims of anxiety and confusion. And why? Because we have lost sight of the deep designs of God.

The Holy liturgy applies to Mary in her Immaculate Conception the words of the Book of Proverbs referring to Divine Wisdom: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways…”. Like Wisdom, though on […]

And when [the Lamb] had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (holy and true) dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? (Apoc. 6:9-10)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

In the year 609 Saint Pope Boniface IV had twenty-eight cartloads of holy relics of the martyrs removed from the catacombs and transported to the temple formerly dedicated to all the pagan gods (the demons: and for this it was called the “Pantheon”), which was now to become a church dedicated to Saint Mary and the martyrs. These relics […]