Instruction 
Instruction on the Rule by noteworthy modern day monastics or oblates
Everything depends on the quality of our acts . . .
Our being is not to be enriched merely by activity and experience as such. Everything depends on the quality of our acts and our experiences. A multitude of badly performed actions and of experiences only half-lived exhausts and depletes our being. By doing things badly we make ourselves less real. This growing unreality cannot help… Read More ›
The Son of God: Bringer of Hope
Created as we were to the image and likeness of the Creator, we fell through our sin from God into ourselves, and fell from ourselves beneath ourselves into such an abyss of unlikeness that no hope was left. But there came the Son of God, eternal Wisdom; he bowed his heavens and came down. He… Read More ›
We are born with a conscience
We do not have to create a conscience for ourselves. We are born with one, and no matter how much we may ignore it, we cannot silence its insistent demand that we do good and avoid evil. No matter how much we may deny our freedom and our moral responsibility, our intellectual soul cries out… Read More ›
St. Bernard: “a sword has truly pierced your soul!”
In another famous Sermon on the Sunday in the Octave of the Assumption the Holy Abbot described with passionate words Mary’s intimate participation in the redeeming sacrifice of her Son. “O Blessed Mother”, he exclaimed, “a sword has truly pierced your soul!… So deeply has the violence of pain pierced your soul, that we may… Read More ›
The Inner Self
There is and can be no special planned technique for discovering and awakening one’s inner self, because the inner self is first of all a spontaneity that is nothing if not free. Therefore there is no use in trying to start with a definition of the inner self, and then deducing from its essential properties… Read More ›
My being is the “yes” of Being self
In our being there is a primordial yes that is not our own; it is not at our own disposal; it is not accessible to our inspection and understanding; we do not even fully experience it as real (except in rare and unique circumstances). And we have to admit that for most people this primordial… Read More ›
Pope stresses need for ‘fraternal correction’ in Christian life
Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sep 4, 2011 / 01:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Correcting the behavior of those gone astray is an essential part of Christian life, said Pope Benedict XVI in his Sunday Angelus address Sept. 4. “This approach is called fraternal correction: it is not a reaction to injury suffered, but is moved by love… Read More ›
What is Wisdom?
Wisdom is the taste for ultimate truth, I suppose and I’d have another definition for it. Wisdom is just simply the quality of resilience after making mistakes. Any real human life is full of mistakes and the more mistakes the better because with more mistakes we learn. The longer we live, the more mistakes we… Read More ›
A practical tip to help “fortify our hearts in Christ”
Katie Peterson, 9/8/2011. Catholic Online There is a common practice done by the saints to strengthen their hearts for spiritual warfare. By the world’s standards, this practice looks like it would weaken one’s bodily strength, rather than provide all of the energies one needs to go into battle without fear. To be honest, many of… Read More ›
Reading St. Bernard
This is a continuation of an interview with Fr. Michael Casey, OSCO January, 2010. Br Chris: Do you think that Saint Bernard is over emphasized amongst the other Cistercian Fathers? It seems that he has the pride of place in Cistercian monasteries, over and above our other Cistercian Fathers. Fr Michael Casey: Well, as I… Read More ›