Homilies

Joy Never Ending — 2011

Genesis 28:11-18;  I Peter 2:4-9;  John 15:9-17

Today we celebrate three realities.  Today is Founders’ Day, the 62nd Anniversary of the day that 29 monks from the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky travelled to Mepkin to begin monastic life in the LowCountry of South Carolina.  Today is the 18th Anniversary of the Dedication of this magnificent church, in which and through which we raise our joyful praise to God.  And finally, even though we are not celebrating it liturgically, today is the feast of All Saints of the Benedictine Family, the reason this day was originally chosen as the founding day.

What causes for Joy Never Ending!  Let us look at them; let us savor them under a threefold rubric: Gratitude, Gratuity, Continuity.

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time Year (A)

1^st rdg  Mal 1:14-2:2, 8-10 you’ve turned aside – caused others to stumble

psalm  13   In you Lord, I have found my peace

2^nd rdg  1 Thes 2:7-9, 13  gentle – tenderly caring -  not only gospel, selves

gospel  Mt 23:1-12  they do not practice what they teach – all are students

 Given by Fr. Kevin Walsh

The readings certainly give room to speak of the circumstances when Christian leadership falls short of the ideal presented by our Lord.  It has been an emphasis since the Second Vatican Council that the ‘how’ leaders engage God’s people in receiving the tradition of the church is an important consideration in the handing on of our rich tradition of faith.  Perhaps some words of exhortation would be reasonable today – to encourage us in the ways that God is calling us to grow in faith, to learn – and the ways that God is calling us to help others grow in faith, to teach.

We come to monastic life to learn.  This is not to be compared to the educational system around us where one completes a course of study and graduates, saying: “I’m finished learning and now I will use what I’ve learned or impart it to others.”  Ours is a life long learning and our teacher is Jesus himself.  Any effort to hand on the monastic way that is not conformed to enabling a deeper relationship with Jesus who is teaching us the path to life, deserves criticism and needs revision. The broader Church collectively reflected on how to transmit our tradition during in the Second Vatican Council which was convened as a pastoral moment in the life of the faithful and continues to challenge us in ordering our lives to the teachings and to the person of Jesus.

Sadly there can be a polarity that develops, as is evident in the community Jesus is addressing in the passage we hear from Matthew’s gospel today.  People hold apart in judgment of one another unwilling to look for common ground. Fierce allegiance to doctrine, while purporting to strengthen the church, from another perspective becomes a condition which wounds the church in a profound way.  So the author of First Thessalonians today speaks of the apostles ministering in a gentle way, tenderly caring, giving not only the Good News, but their very selves – as did our Lord.  Malachi’s words ring in our ears as he, to the dismay of his listeners, speaks of how they have turned aside and caused others to stumble.  What might the self reflection of the various ‘camps’ within the world, the church, faith communities or religious bodies of today reveal if held in the light of Jesus’ teaching in today’s gospel and his prayer: “May they all be one?”  And what might be the self-reflection of those who hold themselves aloof from efforts to offer sound teaching in matters of faith be, as we study Jesus’ challenge to the religious leaders of his day?

The more I try to appropriate our contemplative monastic tradition the more aware I am of the beauty and richness we have.  It is an awesome gift.  Honestly, it all draws me to appreciate how much I don’t know.  And the more aware I am of my limited knowledge, the more mindful I am not to lead another astray.

Jesus’ carefully developed presentation is more than worthy of our reflection as we try to live our monastic ideal.  He offers us very specific points:

• practice what you teach – be who you say you are
• be careful of legalism – following the letter but not the spirit of a law
• avoid any exhibition of practicing piety to be noticed or for self adulation
• titles may strengthen our sense of always looking to/for God or may not
• greatness comes from service, avoiding ambition or seeking to control

The Rule of Saint Benedict amply advises an abbot in this regard and any who would be given particular responsibilities in the monastic community.  This, however, is not only to be a Benedictine or Cistercian, this is to be a follower of Christ.  This is to live the gospel.  Our vocation lived within the broader church is meant to strengthen the broader church.  We live at the heart of the church, not apart from the church – as in above or better than or superior to – we are one with our sisters and brothers in knowing our need for God’s merciful love and in having the privilege of an environment, a structured way of living, that opens us constantly to this supreme generosity of God.

Living a vibrant faith is not only a possibility in our humble way; it is essential and life giving, not only to us but also to others.  To compromise what would foster the deepening of that way to Christ is exactly what Jesus is challenging in the gospel, what Paul is challenging in his letter, and what Malachi is challenging with his prophetic voice.

So we ask ourselves as we approach to receive our Lord in the Eucharist this morning, am I a willing student of Jesus – am I committed to learning His way?  Do I live what I profess and by the way I live my life – do I draw others to Christ?  May God help us to be who we say we are and help us to allow others to know His presence through us!

So concern for others shapes our worship of God.

Our worship brings us to a deeper desire for God and a heightened awareness of others which deepens our compassion and therefore our decision to act with justice.  This is the cycle that is life giving to our faith.  Our Sunday worship is the highpoint of this cycle.

So my brothers and sisters , How do we receive the needs of others,  what is our response to all those who touch our life – locally and globally.  Love says it all – love of God and love of others.  This love is possible because God has loved us first.

Let us open ourselves even more to God’s love, and let our desire for God deepen so much – that we grow in our capacity to love others in return for so great a gift.

30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year (A)

1st Reading              Exodus 22: 20-26

                                    Psalm 18 

2nd Reading            1 Thes 1: 5-10

Gospel Reading     Matthew 22: 34-40

given by Fr. Joe Tedesco

Love has so many facets and meanings to it – but one that is most important is that love is an action. Love for God is translated into love of neighbor just as love for neighbor witnesses to the authenticity of our love of God. Our Actions flow out of our values – God is our highest value.

Jesus gives us the two great commandments as the summary of our whole life of faith. Indeed our worship of God expresses this truth that we love God with our whole heart, mind and soul. God receives our totality: All of our energy, all of our consciousness, all of our life. And this is also our challenge – to live our life for God alone – with everything.

The existential realities of this great commandment flow out of their interior qualities. The heart is full of compassion, the soul with desire, and the mind makes decisions. This helps us to move to the concrete, to the action of love.

We are invited to be in touch with our desire for God and with God’s desire for us which propels us to live with compassion and therefore to choose to act in love for others over and over.

This desire for God truly shapes our life. It is the core reality that gives life to our spiritual journey. St. Benedict in Chapter 4 of the Rule gives us the tools of our spiritual craft. He names this great commandment as the first tool for Good Works. So for Benedict all flows from this teaching.

And St. Bernard in his Spiritual Treatise of the Songs of Songs sees desire for God as the Key component in the journey and indeed his sermons are a teaching on the desire for God.

If we seek to find our fulfillment in coming close to God – desire for God is the experiential grasp of this truth. Keeping a hold on this truth is filled with challenges.

St. Paul praises the Thessalonians who were able against many obstacles to live the faith and became a model for other believers. We can do that too.

The Exodus reading reminds us that there is the link between our ritual and justice.

Faithfulness to God cannot be separated from our practice of justice in everyday life. How I treat others has a direct link to my relationship with God. St. Benedict again helps us here in his 12 steps of humility – this is how we put on the mind of Christ who humbled himself to be one with us and for us. We are called to do the same.

So concern for others shapes our worship of God.
Our worship brings us to a deeper desire for God and a heightened awareness of others which deepens our compassion and therefore our decision to act with justice. This is the cycle that is life giving to our faith. Our Sunday worship is the highpoint of this cycle.

So my brothers and sisters , How do we receive the needs of others, what is our response to all those who touch our life – locally and globally. Love says it all – love of God and love of others. This love is possible because God has loved us first.

Let us open ourselves even more to God’s love, and let our desire for God deepen so much – that we grow in our capacity to love others in return for so great a gift.

Twenty-Sixth Sunday of the Year (A)

by Father Kevin

1^st rdg    Ez 18:25-28  fair/unfair  turn from wickedness

Psalm    25  Remember your mercies Lord

2^nd rdg   Phil 2:1-11  kenosis/encouragement/of same mind/love

Gospel  Mt 21:28-32  change of mind/heart/life conversion

Translating the good intention for change, into change is more difficult than we would like to believe.  Yet change is at the heart of our readings today, with a definite exhortation to change in the way of godliness.

We all marvel at the poetry of Paul’s letter to the Philippians which so wonderfully captures Jesus’ kenotic movement to embrace our humanity in order that we might be restored to the dignity God has always intended for us.  Perhaps we marvel all the more that the thing we possibly fear most – self emptying – is the very vehicle God uses to come to meet us and at the same time the invitation God extends to us to transcend our finite state.  Love that cannot give is neither love nor is it godly.  Today we are celebrating God giving to us the fullness of Himself that we may discover who we really are.

So the spousal imagery of the Song of Songs (commented on so wonderfully by Saint Bernard), an imagery found as well in the NT, becomes a means for us to consider that the giving of oneself in love is not diminishment (that may lead to the nothingness one’s fears) but quite the opposite it is completion, it is transcendence, it is salvation.  Our God desires a spousal relationship with us to be lived in fidelity and in expectation of the new life yet to be.

Conquering one’s fear, overcoming the condition of limitation are frequent themes in scripture.  This Benedictine spirituality we embrace each day of our lives is all about living the humility demonstrated by Jesus in Paul’s beautiful hymn – for he did not cling to equality with God, but came to us as one of us – “emptying himself to take the form of a slave.”

Our Cistercian vow of conversatio morum requires of us that we live deliberately always turning to God.  So our ears perk up as Ezekiel speaks to us today of turning from wickedness and sin to embrace the life of God and the fullness of life that follows.  The theme of change is developed in Jesus’ teaching in today’s passage from Matthew’s gospel.  Jesus offers us two sons who each change, but it is the direction toward which each turns that illumines the point Jesus is making.  Which one turns toward godliness and which one turns toward selfishness?  In drawing attention to their decisions, Jesus invites us to reflect on our relationship with God.  Where are we turning?    Do our behaviors speak the godliness our words of godd intention are saying?

As we feast on Jesus giving himself to us in the Eucharist, we ask to become more self-giving, patterning that self-giving on Jesus’ example.  Here we pray in the truth of belonging to the much larger church that knows that the oneness God wishes for us entails the remarkable individuality God has given to each of us.  God is asking us not to betray that individuality but to find our unity in responding to God’s love and in loving God.  Paul so clearly is asking us to be a church of encouragement, of building up the body of Christ.  Let our words to one another and our actions with one another be encouraging.  And for the community beginning retreat this evening, may our time together in retreat bring us to be more engaged in that emptying of self which allows us to be receptive to the gift we are about to receive and to live more fully as bearers of Jesus’ presence to one another.

The Feast of the Birth of Mary

given by Fr. Kevin

9/8/11

1^st rdg   Rom 8:28-30  all things work together for those who love God ,Psalm   13  with delight I rejoice in the Lord; Gospel  Mt 1:1-16, 18-23  genealogy/child from the H Sp/God w/ us

Since today’s readings speak so powerfully, allow me to offer a few thoughts to stimulate some further reflection and then sit with you in silence as we make room for God’s Word to draw us to new insight.

Celebrating Mary’s birth is an act of acknowledging God’s saving work, for Mary’s importance to us is in her relationship to Jesus, her cooperation with God’s saving work in Christ.  (Mother Theresa of Calcutta was asked about her frequent references to Mary.  She responded quite simply: “No Mary, no Jesus.’)

• Are we so in love with God that we become so steeped in prayer that we come to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and impregnated by God?

Mary’s unique faith is a rich gift in our monastic vocation.  We end each of the hours singing a commendation that expresses our admiration for her and asks her intercession in our behalf and in behalf of humanity.

Sixteenth Sunday of the Year (A)

by Fr. Kevin
July 7, 2011

1^st rdg  Wis 12:13, 16-19 justice, clemency, hope for repentance of sins
Psalm  86  Lord you are good and forgiving
2^nd rdg Rom 8:26-27  weakness, prayer. Spirit intercedes for us
gospel Mt 13: 24-43 parables: weeds & wheat, mustard seed, yeast

My brothers and sisters:

God’s kingdom breaks into frail creation in God’s time and in God’s way.  What is seemingly insignificant, unworthy and incapable may be the very means God employs for God’s purposes.  Jesus himself was so NOT the vehicle folks expected to initiate and bring God’s saving work.  And God will and does harvest to himself at the appointed time from the mix of many elements those who will share everlasting glory.  And many find themselves surprised at where they wind up in the end.