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So far A Monk has created 25 blog entries.

Epiphany 2023

2023-01-14T15:17:13-06:00January 6th, 2023|Homilies of Father Abbot|

And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him (Mt. 2).

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

On the feast of the Epiphany we remember three mysteries of the Faith, all having to do with Christ’s manifestation to the world: the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of the Lord, and the Wedding Feast of Cana where Jesus performed His first public miracle, turning the water into wine. Of these three mysteries it is the visit of the Magi, the first panel of this mystical triptych, which we contemplate in particular on this 6th day of January, the other two scenes being commemorated in days and weeks to come.

The Sovereign Pontiffs, including the current one, have been […]

Requiem Mass for Pope Benedict XVI

2023-01-14T15:41:11-06:00January 4th, 2023|Homilies of Father Abbot|

[The wise man] will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him, and he will pray in the sight of the most High. He will open his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for his sins. For if it shall please the great Lord, he will fill him with the spirit of understanding: And he will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers, and in his prayer, he will confess to the Lord. And he shall direct his counsel, and his knowledge, and in his secrets shall he meditate. (Eccli. 39:6-10)

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

There is, perhaps, no power upon the earth that more forcefully pushes back the darkness and sadness of earthly mortality than the light of true wisdom, […]

Christmas 2022

2022-12-31T15:25:33-06:00December 25th, 2022|Homilies of Father Abbot|

At that time, the shepherds said to one another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass…(Lk. 2)

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

In order really to “see this Word” with the shepherds and to understand Christmas, we have to go way back, beyond the present age of the world, before any material universe known to modern science, even outside the frontiers of time itself. It all began with a great notion that God conceived of, His own concept or Word, the child of His thought, the Second Person of the Trinity. This Divine Word of God within Himself was so good that from it—and from the Father—a Divine Love proceeded. That love is the Holy Spirit or the “Holy […]

Immaculate Conception 2022

2022-12-13T15:04:04-06:00December 8th, 2022|Homilies of Father Abbot|

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

What in God’s creation could be simpler and purer than the Immaculate Conception? What image might we choose to express this mystery by means of a comparison in order to evoke the utter whiteness of this unique grace accorded to the Virgin Mother of God? It would have to be something like the imagery of today’s liturgical texts, which speak of garments white as snow, of a face like the sun, of the lily, or of the dove… And yet the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, this utterly simple reality, has encountered over the centuries many vicissitudes. It was the object of intense debates before it was clearly defined by the Magisterium of the Church as being part of divinely revealed Truth.

Dom Prosper […]

All Saints 2022

2022-11-08T15:13:05-06:00November 1st, 2022|Homilies of Father Abbot|

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

Today’s feast, by means of its liturgical texts, transports us into the courts of the heavenly Jerusalem, where all the Saints, those who have fought the good fight on earth, enjoy evermore the fruits of their victory over sin and death. They praise God and the Lamb, that is to say Our Lord, as He appears in the Apocalypse of Saint John, knowing their victories derive, in fact, from Christ’s own Passion, Death and Resurrection. “And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a Lamb standing as if slain…” (Apoc. 5:6). The Saints are truly this “cloud of witnesses” the Epistle to the Hebrews mentions (12:1), who encourage us […]

Monastic Melodies

2022-10-29T15:55:44-05:00October 13th, 2022|Letters to the Friends|

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Some of you are aware of the recent release on September 9th of our second recording: Rorate Cœli: Marian Sounds of Advent. There are multiple reasons behind this effort: to foster devotion to Our Lady who is the patron saint of our community; to contribute in some little way to the appreciation of Gregorian chant, which must have pride of place in liturgical celebrations; and, finally, to share our monastic life with a greater number of our fellow human beings, whether Catholic or not, through the medium of the official sacred song of the Church.

It may seem odd to be promoting in September this repertory centered on certain portions of the liturgy of Advent, but […]

In the Time of the Laughing Man

2022-11-29T15:45:50-06:00August 29th, 2022|Letters to the Friends|

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Although it is somewhat “unorthodox” in its deeper orthodoxy, I thought you might appreciate the following meditation written by one of my monks at the abbey. Here goes…

Of the four elements which the ancient Greeks considered to make up the universe (earth, air, fire and water), all except earth are seen in Holy Scripture as signifying the Holy Spirit: blowing air and fire at Pentecost (Cf. Acts 2:2-3), and water in John 7:37-39. Christian art, in portraying the Holy Spirit, seems to prefer to draw upon a different Scriptural symbol, that is, the dove, as seen at the baptism of Our Lord, when the Holy Spirit comes down “as a dove” (Cf. Matthew 3:16, John 1:32).And the Most Holy Trinity is sometimes portrayed (and […]

Assumption 2022

2022-08-20T15:21:26-05:00August 15th, 2022|Homilies of Father Abbot|

Signum magnum apparuit in caelo, A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Revelations 12:1)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
My very dear sons,

Never was there mere creature—be it Cherub or prominent member of the choir of Seraphim—more gracious than the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her beauty transcends the canons of art, surpasses the greatest exemplars of human loveliness known to history. The Church contemplates this truth on today’s feast of the Assumption, as we commemorate that sublime moment, when, being lifted body and soul into the glory of Heaven, Mary’s beauty found its ultimate consummation. Today’s Introit, taken from the Book of the Apocalypse, powerfully underlines the mystery. She is wrapped in the […]

St. Benedict 2022

2022-08-27T16:00:06-05:00July 11th, 2022|Homilies of Father Abbot|

Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te…Behold, we have left all things and have followed Thee; what therefore shall we have? (Matthew 19:27)

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

It is striking how, in today’s reading from the Gospel, the emphasis is all on the idea of leaving behind the world. Saint Peter seems quite happy about the fact that he and the other apostles had abandoned all their possessions–even their families–in order to follow the Lord. Christ Himself, far from disapproving of such an attitude, confirms it and blesses it saying in solemn fashion:

Amen I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His Glory, you also shall sit on […]

Days and Nights

2022-11-29T15:52:54-06:00June 29th, 2022|Letters to the Friends|

Dear Friend of Clear Creek Abbey,

Ours is a life that hardly varies day-by-day in its tranquil rhythm of Ora et Labora, composed of liturgical or private prayer punctuated by work of various sorts. Seven times a day and once during the night we meet to offer praise to God in our monastic church; morning and afternoon we go out to accomplish the necessary tasks that allow us to live largely from the labor of our own hands.

God in His infinite wisdom does send our way, nevertheless, those providential exceptions, the special events, that allow the good of monastic life to radiate outward into the Church and the world for the benefit of many outside the monastery walls. I thought that you might appreciate learning of some of these events that have […]

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