May 3, 2020: A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A John 10:1-10 THE GOOD SHEPHERD I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) Jesus, Good Shepherd, you know each of us by name. You know us better than we know ourselves. And for each one of us you have given a particular name that crystallizes who we really are and who…
April 26, 2020: A Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A Luke 24:13-35 Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way? On the way. So much is packed into those three words, Jesus. You ARE the Way and so you come up beside your disheartened disciples and walk with them, all the while drawing them out. In early Christianity, Christians were…
April 11, 2020: A Reflection for the Vigil of Easter, Year A Matthew 28:1-10 ALLELUIA! I wonder what was in the hearts of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they walked together to the tomb of Jesus on the morning after the Sabbath. Their deep love for him must surely have driven them onward, just to be near him as he lay in the tomb. As light crept silently…
When Fr. Thomas wasn't able to travel and come lead our Lenten retreat, Mother Vicki shared her own daily lectio divina with us in the following reflections. March 30, 2020: A Reflection for Monday of the 5th Week of Lent John 8:1-11 NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go,…
March 29, 2020: A Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year A John 11:1-45 Jesus, there is so much in this Gospel that my mind swims. Lazarus your friend has died and when given word that he was ill, you wait two days before you begin the journey to Bethany. By the time you get there, Lazarus has been dead four days. And this, after you told your disciples…
March 25, 2020: A Reflection for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord Luke 1:26-38 Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. One simple word: Yes. Let it be done to me according to your word. And God enters our world in our flesh. One of my favorite paintings of the annunciation…
“I will lead her into the desert and there I will speak to her heart.” Here we are, dear Sharon, one year into Cistercian life in the magnificent high desert of the Southwest and this place of Santa Rita Abbey. God has led you here and you have heard his voice and responded with love. He has been leading you through deserts of a different sort, to this community. A…
March 22, 2020: A Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A John 9:1-41 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of…
March 3, 2020: A Reflection for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent Matthew 6:7-15 In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. A babbling brook… If you’ve ever sat beside a brook as it chatters along, it can be a merry experience.…
February 11, 2020: A Reflection for Tuesday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 7:1-13 This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Inside out. That’s how you lived, isn’t it, Jesus? Inside out. You lived from the heart, from the center of your being. You knew that it was a way of being that we, your much- loved creatures, all needed to…
