with Fr. Peter Kavanaugh
“Taste and see that the lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
Complete stillness. The priest muttered inaudible prayers at the altar. Incense billowed upwards, lit up in a haze around the few twinkling candles. Time stood still, while stone walls reverberated with soft Gregorian melodies. The young man was transfixed, kneeling through his first Mass at the Grande Chartreuse cloister in Southeastern France.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ has no effect in a soul that is barren.
Continue reading “Taste and See”
“I felt there was no happier person on earth than I, and I doubted if there could be greater and fuller happiness in the kingdom of heaven. The whole outside world also seemed to me full of charm and delight. Everything drew me to love and thank God: people, trees, plants and animals. I saw them all as my kinfolk; I found in all of them the magic of the name of Jesus” (The Way of the Pilgrim).
If we could only recognize the things that make for peace. A soul filled up with Christ will be peaceful in every situation. Eyes open to reality find beauty everywhere. A heart that is pure can taste the kingdom, smell the kingdom, delight in the kingdom in each and every moment.
Continue reading “An Enchanted World”
“The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself” (Proverbs 11:25).
She was a constant pain in the neck. As a young girl, St. Brigid, seized every opportunity to feed the poor. Everytime her parents turned around, the cabinets were emptied. Milk, butter, porkchops, all of it passed through her hands to every passing beggar. Eventually, her father had enough. It was time for this girl to get married. He drove her away to the King of Leinster. Prospects looked good and the two men negotiated a dowry. Meanwhile, Brigid waited behind in the chariot when a leper passed by. She had neither food nor money, but looked down and, sure enough, her father had left his sword and scabbard. “Take these,” she told the leper, “sell them and you can by food for months.” Upon returning, the father was furious, and the king thought to himself, ‘This woman will be the ruin of my household.’ So she got her wish. Brigid was sent off to a nunnery.
Continue reading “A Generous Heart”
A golden dusk looms over the wheat field in rural France. Two peasants have set aside their tools and a basket of potatoes. They stand bowed, praying an Ave Maria, and the world around them is lit up. The whole landscape is charged, enchanted by a presence of glory. This painting is called The Angelus, by J.F. Millet, 1859. Art shows us the essence of things, and in this artwork in particular, we discover the essence of Christianity. A heart open to God is open to God’s beauty, and that beauty overflows into our life.
Continue reading “God in Beauty”
He saw, he fled, he built. Three actions sum up St. Benedict’s legacy. From the very start, our parish dedicated itself to a vision exemplified by St. Benedict, and we must always return to that vision. We are here to be a counterculture. We are here to recognize the problems in our culture, to detach from them, and to pour sweat and blood in building Kingdom culture.
Continue reading “Forsake, Pursue, Rejoice”
“Launch out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
God expects us to go farther into the water. We all have times in our Christian journey when we become complacent. We get comfortable with our faith, and would be comfortable remaining just where we are. God asks more of us.
Continue reading “Into the Sea of God”
“Kindness is one of God’s many qualities; therefore, it always spreads joy, drives away the clouds, and opens up hearts like the spring sunshine which makes the earth blossom” (St. Paisius of Mount Athos).
Compassion is the sign that God is in your heart. We come together as a parish not only to worship God. We are here to learn compassion. How are we loving one another?
Continue reading “Community Built on Compassion”
“In the evening, the communal prayer would end with an impressive ‘God is with us’ sung by three hundred voices. On the top floor there was a room reserved for ‘unceasing prayer.’ A prisoner would pray…for an hour each day, stopping only when his replacement would arrive.”
Elder Arsenie Papacioc describes his earlier years in prison. He and his companions dedicated their days to meditation and scripture reading. They stayed up for all-night vigils and set aside one day a week for complete silence, “with the goal of attaining a mystical depth, an encounter with God,” and for scrupulous self-examination, exploring and confessing “every moment and deed of one’s life.” The elder went on to become a monk after his release and was imprisoned for his faith over forty times.
Continue reading “Extremism: A Word on God’s Expectations”
“If a hen stops sitting on the eggs, she will hatch no chickens. The monk or nun who goes from place to place grows cold and dead in faith” (St. Syncletica).
We must learn to be still in order to know God. Distraction is the prevailing temptation of our time. Always restless, always looking for a change, always blaming our wellbeing on people, places, and circumstances around us, we get stuck in an endless labyrinth. In modern times, we have built an entire civilization around distraction. We must rip ourselves apart from it, settle down like a chicken on an egg, and be still.
Continue reading “Distracted and Restless”
“The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed…God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here am I.” Then he said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:2-5).
The Holy Spirit is in our midst with an objective: to sanctify our lives. In a world choked in darkness, God’s Spirit comes down as fire. We are the torches to spread that fire, to touch and make sacred space, time, and the human heart.
Continue reading “To Spread Heaven on Earth”