Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: time

We Live in the Time of the Two Advents of Christ

History itself acquired a new meaning, or rather its hidden meaning was revealed, when the Word of God became incarnate and entered into history. Time itself was now an Epiphany of the Creator and of the Redeemer, the “Lord of Ages.” And yet time also acquired a new solemnity, a new urgency, since the Lord… Read More ›

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Outcast

At times I get weary about who and what I am, what we are as a species, how we need to struggle to just be rational, yet often controlled by our deep sub-conscious, lip surface to a path chosen, yet in reality often possibly forced by inner forces to act otherwise, yet the will remains… Read More ›

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A meditation on the mystery of time

I began our New Years Eve Late Night Mass (Which begins at 11:15 PM) with the observation that we begin this Mass in one year, and end in another. New Years Eve features the mysterious passage from one year to another. In a way I suppose it is no more mysterious than the passage from… Read More ›

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Apocalypse Not Now: 2012 Doomsday Predictions Debunked by NASA

On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse — anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says. Many people point to the end of the… Read More ›

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New Day, New Year, New Moment

One year ends, another begins. It is like a fresh morning for many, though deep down it is known to be only pretend. Perhaps each day is in reality a “New Year”, a fresh beginning that slowly wilts as the day comes to an end. Pressures build up, focus can be lost and fatigue can… Read More ›

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Prayer requires both the right time and the right place

Anyone who wishes to pray must choose not only the right place but also the right time. A time of leisure is best and most convenient, the deep silence when others are asleep is particularly suitable, for prayer will then be freer and purer. ‘Arise at the first watch of the night, and pour out… Read More ›

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To Be Present to the Present

Being where we are — immersed in it, aware of it, alert to it — may well be the secret to living well, to living fully. It is a lesson to be learned. In a culture based on motion it is no small trick to allow ourselves to be present to the present, to see… Read More ›

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Advent and grief (a talk)

When I think of the concept of longing and then mixed it in with the experience of grief, I always get the feeling, or perhaps the picture, of a deep, dark and cold ocean, a place of feeling alone and isolated…. for what was once a bright inner relationship with another, is now empty and… Read More ›

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What is the fullness of time?

1. “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman … ” (Gal 4:4). What is the fullness of time? From the standpoint of human history, the fullness of time is a concrete fact. It is the night when the Son of God came into the world in Bethlehem, as… Read More ›

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The Meaning of Our Memories

Memory is one of the most powerful functions of the human mind. It is also one of life’s most determining ones. What goes on in memory has a great deal to do with what goes on in us all our lives. Memory is a wild horse, unbridled, riderless, maverick. It takes us often where we… Read More ›

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