Homilies of Father Abbot

Trahe nos, Virgo Immaculata; Draw us, O Virgin Immaculate; we will run after thee to the fragrance of thy ointments. (Fifth Antiphon; cf. Cant. 1:3)

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

Beginning already in the earliest centuries of the Church, a debate arose as to the universal nature of original sin and its effects on the great friends of God such as Saint John the Baptist or Saint Joseph. Were they touched by this hereditary harm? Our Lord affirmed that “no one born of woman” was greater than Saint John (Mt. 11:11). Could he have been affected by the ugliness of original sin? But the question that caused the most discussion was relative to what part sin may have had in the body and soul of the Blessed Virgin […]

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,

“A certain man running up and kneeling before [Jesus], asked him: Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting? Why callest thou me good? Replied the Lord. None is good but one, that is God” (Mk. 10: 17-18). How is it that, while Our Lord thus affirms that God alone is good, Saint John in the Apocalypse, shows a multitude of human beings, so great that no one could number it, standing like […]

Signum magnum apparuit in caelo…A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. Apoc. 12:1.

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

Because we live in a place of spiritual darkness or, more exactly, of spiritual twilight (that half-light of Faith, as opposed to the vision), because the final truth concerning God and His Church has not yet appeared to our mortal eyes or to the eyes of our souls in its full splendor, because we struggle through life not knowing all there is to know about ourselves or about the world, having only a partial understanding–because of all of this–God sends us signs in order to help us keep on the road […]

Panem Angelorum manducavit homo, Man has eaten of the Bread of Angels, Alleluia.

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

Truly today’s feast is a magnificent feast, because we honor, not only a Sacrament of the Church, but the Blessed Sacrament itself, containing something even more considerable than the grace of God—which is quite extraordinary already—,God Himself, that is to say the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man. It is no wonder this most Holy Host is likened to the Bread of Angels and reminds us of the Manna that God rained down on the People of God, during their forty years of wanderings in the desert under the direction of Moses.

Why is it, though, that we partake so often […]

Ascendit Deus in jubilatione…. God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Alleluia.

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

We contemplate today a reality that might seem quite “out of this world,” because it truly is. The Lord, having accomplished the mission set before Him by the Father, returns to the place from which He came, if we can speak in such terms in reference to a Divine Person. He leaves in order to blaze the trail for us. He does not leave us orphans or desert us. He promised this.

One of the characteristics of our time is the tendency to want to keep everything here below. Even Catholics, including prominent theologians, have expressed acceptance for this focus on the “here […]

At that time: Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Salome…entering into the sepulcher saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe…who saith to them: Be not afraid; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is risen, he is not here…

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

We live in tumultuous times. Despite a recent change in the mood of the nation (mostly for the better), the culture that destroys rather than builds is still with us. However, on Easter morning the most remarkable tumult is that, so to speak, of the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb. Something has upset their world.

Truly, ever since a certain Easter morning, when the unthinkable, the unspeakable, the unimaginable victory of life over death […]

Before the festival day of the pasch, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end (Jn 13:1)

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

This verse, taken from the Gospel according to Saint John, says it all. The entire mystery of Maundy Thursday is contained as if in a spiritual seed in these few words: the washing of the feet, the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, Christ’s painful awareness of Judas’ betrayal, and the beginning of the Passion. It is all there. “He loved them until the end,” that is to say, to the utmost, until the last moment, until His human physical and spiritual […]

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

From all eternity God spoke His Word. From the first day of creation, from the beginning of time, God pronounced many words; God announced to angels and men what men and angels needed to know. Even before there were angels or men, God spoke to Himself, saying “Let there be light, let there be a firmament, fiat lux” (Gen. 1: 3,6). And the announcements and pronouncements continued down through the centuries. Many were God’s winged messengers bearing Divine tidings to earth; many were His prophets, who walked upon its face, spreading knowledge of the Word of God throughout the world below. But the greatest of these pronouncements, the greatest of annunciations was the one made in the fullness of time to the Blessed Virgin Mary, […]

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

It is our privilege and our joy to celebrate each year two major feasts in honor of Our Blessed Father Saint Benedict: this first one occurs during the Lenten season, and the second beneath the ardent rays of the July sun. Today’s feast commemorates the holy death of the Patriarch of monks; the second originally celebrated the transfer of the relics of Saint Benedict from Italy to France, but has now become for the universal Church the principal celebration honoring Saint Benedict. Given the penitential character of Lent, we generally reserve more solemnity for the feast in July. It is nevertheless only fitting to say a few words about the holy death of a great saint.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his […]

All they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praise. (Isaiah 60)

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

The Epiphany is a feast of attraction: the Incarnate Word irradiates the world, and the humble of heart are attracted to the spiritual light emanating from the Stable of Bethlehem. At the same time the tiny Messiah is more or less ignored by the world of men, except by King Herod, who perceives a possible threat to his power. This attraction is on a very grand scale, bringing the Magi from great distances, but it is selective at the beginning, as only a handful of souls benefit from this new radiance that has shined forth upon the earth. Nevertheless, this attraction will grow in intensity and extension over […]