Instruction 
Instruction on the Rule by noteworthy modern day monastics or oblates
Being Beloved Children of God (Part 3)
Epiphany. That is a powerful word that the Lord gives us in the parable of the Prodigal Son. We all know ourselves to be the Prodigal Son, and we are on that journey. We are at different places on the journey, but there is a significant moment on the journey—a moment of epiphany. An epiphany… Read More ›
Being Beloved Children of God (Part 2)
The Prodigal Son. Saint Paul says, in his turn, that all paternity comes down from heaven, from the Father of Lights [3]. God is the supreme archetype of paternity—his total, complete, gratuitous giving of self. It is that paternity we want to understand, and to understand ourselves as sons in relation to that paternity. The… Read More ›
Being Beloved Children of God (Part 1)
Sons of God. Obsculta, fili or Obsculta, o fili, Saint Benedict says [1]. Most translations mistranslate that. Usually the translations say, “Listen, my son.” That is not what Saint Benedict said. He said “Listen, O son.” He is speaking to us precisely in our dignity and reality as sons. We have been baptized into Christ,… Read More ›
Peace is something you have
Perhaps peace is not, after all, something you work for, or ‘fight for.’ It is indeed ‘fighting for peace’ that starts all the wars. What, after all, are the pretexts of all these Cold War crises, but ‘fighting for peace?’ Peace is something you have or do not have. If you are yourself at peace,… Read More ›
We must cast out fear
Now one of the things we must cast out first of all is fear. Fear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves. If we were terrified of God as an inexorable judge, we would not confidently await His mercy, or… Read More ›
God’s goodness is a gift
[Luke 18:9-14] is a parable with two characters in it. Like last Sunday, Jesus sets up a comparison in the parable between the two characters. Let’s have a peek at the two men. Luke tells us that one was a Pharisee; the other was a tax collector. Thanks in some measure to the gospel writers,… Read More ›
In filling myself, I had emptied myself
If what most people take for granted were really true—if all you needed to be happy was to grab everything and see everything and investigate every experience and then talk about it, I should have been a very happy person, a spiritual millionaire, from the cradle even until now…What a strange thing! In filling myself,… Read More ›
Gratitude takes nothing for granted
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted,… Read More ›
Direction in the Fog of Life
Once a friend of mine went swimming in a large lake at dusk. As he was paddling at a leisurely pace about a hundred yards offshore, a freak evening fog rolled in across the water. Suddenly he could see nothing: no horizon, no landmarks, no objects or lights on shore. Because the fog diffused all… Read More ›
Life itself is imperfect
We cannot avoid missing the point of almost everything we do. But what of it? Life is not a matter of getting something out of everything. Life itself is imperfect. All created beings begin to die as soon as they begin to live, and no one expects any one of them to become absolutely perfect,… Read More ›