From Season to Season

If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. --Romans 6:7-11

ElieWiesel , a Holocaust survivor and Nobel prize-winning peace activist, once said “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” Indifference, a lack of concern or a refusal to act, is at the heart of human suffering. With this in mind, another holocaust victim, Saint Maximilian Kolbe (who was murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp on August 14, 1941), described indifference as “the most deadly poison of our times.” In most cases, it is indifference born of comfort and complacency, that sense that “I shouldn’t get involved” or “it isn’t my business,” that allows injustice, abuse, and neglect to survive and flourish. The idea of an indifferent God (the “Divine Watchmaker” of the Enlightenment) is perhaps the greatest heresy ever dreamt by humankind. Palm Sunday Procession at Ca...

Today, Benedictines throughout the world commemorate the death of Saint Benedict , Patriarch of Western Monks, on March 21, 547.   Many thousands of men and women from every state and condition of life have followed his Rule and have called him their Holy Father. In Chapter 72 of his Rule , Saint Benedict wrote:  Just as there is a wicked zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from evil and leads to God and everlasting life. This, then, is the good zeal which monks must foster with fervent love: They should each try to be the first to show respect to the other (cf. Romans 12:10), supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses of body or behavior, and earnestly competing in obedience to one another. No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else. To their fellow monks they show the pure love of brothers; to God, loving fea...

"Saint Joseph, the Carpenter" by Georges de la Tour (1640s) To celebrate Saint Joseph is to celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation. In fact, Joseph’s life and witness are so tied to the mystery of the Word-Made-Flesh that Joseph has come to hold a privileged place among the saints and in the life of the Church.   The Gospel passages related to Saint Joseph, including today’s account of Mary and Joseph finding the Child Jesus in the Temple ( Luke 2:41-51a ), remind us that, while Joseph’s relationship with the child entrusted to his care was unique, he loved Jesus with a father’s love. Joseph accepted the responsibility entrusted to him in a spirit of humility and silent submission and the Gospels praise this “Righteous Man” (Matthew 1:19) who acted in faith, doing what God asked of him. A tradesman (i.e. tektōn , cf. Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3), Joseph was Jesus’ first teacher and he would have trained him in his craft and in the ways of faith and life in the world: Tho...

Blessed Charles de Foucauld  (d. 1916), a soldier and explorer, monk and priest, missionary and martyr, once wrote, “We are all children of the Most High. All of us: the poorest, the most outcast, a newborn child, a decrepit old person, the least intelligent human being, the most abject, an idiot, a fool, a sometimes sinner, the greatest sinner, the most ignorant, the last of the last, the one most physically and morally repugnant—all children of God and sons and daughters of the Most High... We should love all humankind, for they are all children of God.” Our dignity and worth as persons is simply based on the reality that we are all daughters and sons of God. All the good that is within us—our hope, our faith, our love—are gifts from our Creator.       The story of the woman caught in adultery ( John 8:1-11 ) reminds us that sin, turning away from God and denying our own dignity and worth, is not an ending. Because God’s love and mercy are unlimited, ...

  Leander was born in Cartagena, Spain, to a noble Arian-Christian family. His younger brothers, Isidore and Fulgentius, and his sister, Florentina, are all numbered among the saints. Leander’s father served as governor of the Province of Cartagena but, following an attack on the city by the Byzantines, the family resettled in Seville. Leander’s mother later converted to Catholicism and it was because of her the children accepted the Catholic Faith. Leander had a significant influence on his siblings and was responsible for the education of his brother, Isidore, who is honored as one of the Doctors of the Church. Commenting on this relationship, His Holiness Benedict XVI said, “[Isidore] owed much to Leander, an exacting, studious, and austere person who created around his younger brother a family environment marked by the ascetic requirements proper to a monk… Leander and Isidore’s home was furnished with a library richly endowed with classical pagan and Christian works. Isid...

"The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Rembrandt Anyone can wander away from God’s love, seeking their own path, believing that, even as we “leave home” and assert our own independence and identity, we are still walking at God’s side. Henri Nouwen reflected, “Leaving home means ignoring the truth that God has ‘fashioned me in secret, moulded me in the depths of the earth and knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).’ Leaving home is living as though I do not yet have a home and must look far and wide to find one” (from “ The Return of the Prodigal Son” ).   Life’s losses (whether they be  of home, family, opportunities, or identity) are an invitation for renewal and re-creation. “Learning the value of loss is,” as Joan Chittister, observes, “a trip to a foreign land… The loss of the sense of self that defeat brings in its wake is the struggle we cannot name and the devil we cannot rout” (from “For Everything a Season” ). The “Prodigal Son” teaches u...