Homilies of Father Abbot

Emitte spiritum tuum et creabuntur, et renovabis faciem terrae. Send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. (Ps. 103:30)

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

As you perhaps remember, when the prophet Elijah, fleeing the persecution of Jezabel, had come to Mount Horeb after a long walk through the desert, the word of the Lord came to him and a great revelation was given. While the prophet stood before God on the mountain, a strong wind that shook the whole earth around him shattering stones came up, but God was not in that wind and earthquake. Nor was He in the fire that followed. Then there came a whistling of gentle air, and Elijah covered his face with his mantle, […]

Brethren…Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I Cor. 5.

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

Today is the greatest of days, the most venerable of feasts: it is a day when dark and sad things give way to what is entirely luminous and blessed. All hell was leagued against the Lord in His Most Sorrowful Passion; all of heaven rejoices to see Him rise from the dead as we celebrate the victory of God’s infinite mercy over the powers of evil. It is such a victory that the darkness is nearly forgotten and will evaporate someday like so much smoke or an evil dream, when […]

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

In a real way it was the Lord’s own feet that would have needed attention during the Last Supper, even more than those of the Apostles. Not that Jesus’ feet were somehow impure, but because they were about to be cruelly pierced by nails. They needed no cleaning, but they needed anointing. However, as we know, Mary, the sister of Martha, whom tradition identifies with Mary Madeleine, had thought about this matter earlier. It happened six days before the Pasch in Bethany.

Jesus therefore, six days before the Pasch, came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And they made him a supper there: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him. […]

Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.

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

Christian antiquity, following traditions modern historians can neither confirm nor deny, recognized the 25th of March as the actual day of Our Lord’s death as well as being the day of the Annunciation. It was further argued that the coming of Our Lord at the Annunciation and His death must have coincided with the creation and fall of Adam. And since the world was created in spring, again according to the calculations of the ancients, the Savior was also conceived and died shortly after the equinox of spring. Today’s feast commemorating the springtime of the world and the springtime of Salvation, reminds us of the most sublime dialogue […]

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?”

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

In a true manner, the “epiphany” or manifestation of the Messiah, the anointed One, has occupied the entire history of salvation.  It is a great beacon that shines both backward in time and forward, filling all the centuries until the end. Before His coming into the world, as we can read in the Old Testament, the Child, later to be revealed at the Epiphany, was made partially manifest in prophecies and figures, which, though veiled, remained clear enough for those poor enough in spirit, for those like Simeon and […]

At that time: there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled…And Joseph also went up from Galilee…

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

Something very big was at work in the Roman Empire some two thousand years ago—and something very small. One man ruled over all the nations of the earth conquered by the Romans; the other was just trying to make ends meet, while providing for an expectant mother. No mortal ever wielded greater worldly power than the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus; never was any human being less powerful, or less influential, at least in the eyes of the world, than Saint Joseph, the very chaste husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  And yet, nonetheless, the business of the obscure man, of […]

Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix…Thy garments are white as snow, and thy face is as the sun. (2nd Antiphon of Laudes).

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

In contemplating the spectacle of the Immaculate Conception, such is the spiritual splendor and brightness of the vision, supposing we turn our soul toward this mystery with humility, such is the power of Mary’s immaculate radiance, that one might fear going “snow blind” so to speak, of being blinded for shear excess of light.  It is tempting for one who preaches to conclude (hastily) that there is nothing to say about such uniform whiteness, nothing to comment upon here, whereas in truth such beauty rightly considered, could feed our contemplation for year upon year, age upon age.  Our Lady’s light is not the […]

Post haec vidi turbam magnam…After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands (Apoc. 7:9).

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

The spectacle that fills our eyes—the eyes of our soul—on this feast of All Saints, as we contemplate the countless throngs of Saints presented in the liturgical readings from the Apocalypse, resonates not only in the mind, but also in our heart of hearts. This blessed vision represents the consummation of all things at the end of human History, where we ardently expect our own salvation and that of those dear to us. If there is a deeper […]

Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the mortal wounding of the head of the prince of our enemies (Judith).

On this glorious feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, many splendid and glorious things are presented to the eyes of our soul:  a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet; the visit made by Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, when she intoned her Magnificat; the spectacle of angels rejoicing as they receive their Queen into the blessed precincts of Heaven; finally, the bride described in Psalm 44, adorned with gilded clothing surrounded with variety.  And all of these sacred images have a spiritual meaning, not only for the Church in general, but also for each one of us.  Let us explore a […]

O felix Roma, O thou most happy Rome, which by this glorious blood of thy two Princes, precious crimson flood, art made forever sacred…

Today, together with the Sovereign Roman Pontiff and the entire Catholic Church, we celebrate the glorious martyrdoms of Saints Peter and Paul. What a surprising and marvelous nobility is theirs!  One founded, not on birthright or military prowess, but on a Divine authority transmitted by grace; a nobility established, not by the spilling of other men’s blood, but by the spilling of their own.

What a surprising and marvelous nobility is that of Rome herself, city of the Apostles, city of the saints, as the hymn expresses it so well, O Felix Roma. O thou most happy Rome, which by this glorious blood of thy two Princes, precious crimson […]