Who is she? Who is this woman? What is this great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, with a crown of twelve stars on her head (Apoc 12:1)? She is beautiful, and she is also terrible. In the words of the Song of Songs: Who is she, arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array (6:10)?
Homily for Sunday 19C, 7 August 2022: Luke 12:32-48
Do not be afraid, little flock: for it has pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom (Lk 12:32) Our Lord’s exhortation not to be afraid is very familiar to us. But I think we can’t hear it too frequently. We need to ponder these words, trust them, cling on to them, affirm them: strive to act and think and speak in accordance with them.
Homily given by Fr. Abbot Anselm at the funeral Mass of Br. Gabriel, 29 July 2022
In a funeral Mass for Br. Gabriel, it is important to recall the facts of his life: That he was a Lancashire man. That he was born into a loving family, which accompanied him all his life and still does, in the persons of his brother Nigel and his nephew James. That his first job after school was as labourer in a Liverpool engineering works.
Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, Sunday 14C, 2 July 2022: Galatians 6:14-18
Homily for Sunday 13C, 26 June 2022, Luke 9:51-62
But Jesus turned and rebuked them (9:55) We’re in the 9th Chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel. The beginning of this Chapter has Jesus investing the Twelve with power and authority, and sending them out to preach and to heal. In a very similar way, at the beginning of the next Chapter, Jesus will extend this delegation to Seventy Two others.
Homily for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, 12 June 2022 - DJC
On this solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity the Church gives praise to God simply that “He is”. God is Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one Nature; each Person is distinct from one another; each Person is truly God yet this does not divided the divine Unity. God is one but not solitary. It is a mystery infinitely beyond human reason. God had to reveal this mystery to us:
Homily for Pentecost, Year C, 2022
In days gone by there were very many sequences, but in the Missal of St. Pius V these were reduced to 3, for Easter, Pentecost and Corpus Christi, plus Masses for the Dead, if you count the Dies Irae as a sequence. Nowadays we sing it more often than in the past, as we use it as a hymn for the last week of the Church’s year. We also sing a variety of sequences, in whole or in part, at Benediction or under the guise of hymns. In addition, of course, as Benedictines we have a special sequence for the feasts of St. Benedict.
Homily for St. Margaret’s Forres, 29 May 2022, Eastertide Sunday 7C; John 17:20-26
Father: may they all be one (17:21 (x 2), 22, 23; 11). Just before entering into his Passion, at the end of the Last Supper, Jesus prays that his redeeming mission be perfectly consummated. What did he come for? Certainly, it was to take away our sins, and to save us from death. But that was, as it were, only the first necessary stage. The ultimate goal of Jesus was to bring us to God. That is, Jesus came to bring each of us individually, and also all of us together, to God.