Homilies of Father Abbot

And behold, the star which [the wise men] had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. (Matt. 2:9)

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

As with the feast of Christmas, of which it is a continuation, the Epiphany presents to us a mystery of light. On the third day within the octave of the Epiphany, for example, we sing, “O Christ, Thou Light of light hast appeared, unto Whom the Magi offer gifts, Alleluia.” Great is the brightness that shines forth here amid the exterior darkness of the winter and the world. There is the light of the star that leads the Wise Men from the East; there is the light of Faith that begins to illuminate the world in […]

And suddenly with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God, and saying: Gloria in altissimis Deo, and on earth peace to men of good will.

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

In accordance with the age-old liturgical tradition, we celebrate today three Masses: the Angels’ Mass at Midnight (now); the Shepherds’ Mass at dawn; and the King’s Mass in late morning. The first two of these masses emphasize the human nature of Christ, while the third takes us into the depths of the Lord’s divinity, into the abyss of His eternal generation from the Father. But these various aspects of the mystery of Christmas appear to us in perfect harmony. They point to the one Christ, the one Word-Made-Flesh. It is this fully Catholic, complete, idea of […]

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 Mary, […]

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,

What a marvelous thing it is, this epic story of the Saints! From age to age their saga fills the pages of the Church’s martyrology and captures the imaginations of Christ’s faithful, both young and old. The Apocalypse of Saint John shows us these holy men and women as they shine in the glory of Heaven; the lives of the Saints, on the other hand, present to the eyes of our soul the edifying and often dramatic narrative […]

Benedicite Dominum, omnes Angeli…Bless the Lord, all ye his Angels : you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.

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

It is Our Lord Himself, who sets forth the spiritual and very sobering tone for today’s feast of the great Saint Michael and of all the Holy Angels. Here is what He says:

Whosoever…shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven: and he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me; but he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that […]

Assumpta est Maria in caelum…Mary has been taken up into heaven: the Angels rejoice; in hymns of praise they bless the Lord. (First Antiphon of Lauds)

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

Sometimes we Christians are forced to stop and ponder, especially upon hearing more scandalous news concerning ecclesiastical matters, how the Church continues to exist at all and make its way amid the ups and downs, the persecutions and various tribulations of its history, including cruel deceptions such as the betrayal by some of its most eminent members. It is all a mystery as is commonly held. There are questions which will never fully be elucidated until the day of eternity. We can only try to understand. One factor to be considered here, however, is that the Church […]

Sancte Pater Benedicte, intercede pro nobis. Holy Father Benedict, intercede for us.

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

According to Dom Delatte, the third abbot of Saint-Pierre of Solesmes in France, “Experience shows that no earthly fatherhood has ever so closely resembled the fatherhood of God as did St. Benedict’s” (Commentary on the Rule, Prologue). Indeed, Saint Benedict is known to us monks as “Our Blessed Father.” He has also been called by Church historians “the Patriarch of the monks of the West.” A patriarch, as we know, is the head of a family or of a family of families, the first of a line of fathers presiding over a whole people, as was the case with the Patriarch Abraham to whom God said,

I […]

Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32)

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

There are two ways to consider the great mystery of the Church (at least two ways), two perspectives on this institution that is divine in its constitution and preservation from error, but all too human in its earthly members. We might consider the Church going from the top down, beginning with the eternal Shepherd, Christ, Our Lord, Himself, who is its transcendent head, descending all the way to the most recently appointed altar boy or least conspicuous member of the faithful, passing in review every intermediate […]

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,

Today, on the feast of Pentecost or Whitsunday as it is also called, we celebrate a certain beginning. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit of God did not exist before it came upon the Apostles in the Upper Room or that the Church herself had no existence prior to the apparition of tongues of fire and the great wind that shook the whole house where the Apostles were gathered along with the Blessed Virgin Mary. From the dawn of Creation, as we read in the Book of Genesis, the Spirit of […]

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

On Easter morning, the first day of the week according to the way of counting in Israel, following the terrible drama of the Lord’s most sorrowful Passion, including the abandonment He suffered on the part of His Apostles and Disciples – they had fled the mortal danger that threatened them as well; after those hours, heavy with sadness, during which the Body of Christ remained in the Tomb under armed guard, while Saint Peter and the others cowered in fear within their homes; during all of this the world was in dire need of some good news. Few, indeed, were those who realized that the Savior Himself, the Messiah Promised to the people of God, had really come into the world, being born of […]