Dear friends and guests, from 1st January until 8 February 2015, we will be respecting a time of silence, retreat and solitude

Patristic reading I am amazed at how that which is called mourning and grief should contain joy and gladness interwoven within it, like honey in the comb When I consider the actual natu...

Patristic reading Loquacity in prayer often distracts the mind and leads to phantasy, whereas brevity makes for concentration. Do not be over-sophisticated in the words you use when praying, b...

Patristic reading Lord and Master of my life, keep far from me the spirit of futility, discouragement, lust for power, and empty speech   Lord and Master of my life, keep far from me th...

Patristic reading For so often as by infectious motion we are carried too far from ourselves [Benedict] returned to the wilderness which so much he loved, and dwelt alone with himself, in the ...

Patristic reading Let us take care then, brethren. Let us be vigilant while we have time. Why do we neglect ourselves? Let us take care then, brethren. Let us be vigilant while we have time. Wh...

Patristic reading The saints who keep a firm hold of the recollection of God and are borne along, as it were, with their steps suspended on a line stretched out on high I should say then that t...

Patristic reading Each one therefore ought only to judge himself, and to be on the watch, with care and circumspection in all things I plainly discovered that a monk was in the same cas...

Patristic reading Each one must try, according to his ability, to be at one with everyone else... Do everything to help each other Let us help one another since we are members of the same body....

Patristic reading How much greater should then be our compassion for brothers and fellow believers! Are we not all one another's brothers? Are we not of one blood? Are we not of the same d...

Patristic reading Fasting is a renewal of the soul, for the holy Apostle says: "Even though our outward man is perishing Fasting is a renewal of the soul, for the holy Apostle says: "...

THE CHURCHES REMEMBER... Today the Churches remember

Dearest John, In the course of the liturgy you celebrate daily with your brothers and sisters in community or at least every Sunday in church, you hear Scripture readings and listen to...

Today the Churches remember

In the First Covenant, ancient Israel prayed the Word and used the Word ta pray. You can see these communal practices described in chapter 8 of Nehemiah. This method of explaining and praying the W...

For your lectio divina try to choose a time of day and a place which will provide you with some external silence. This is the necessary condition for interior silence. The Master is here and ...

Today the Churches remember

When you want to immerse yourself in this prayerful reading, your first job is to select a place where you can be quiet and alone, where you can pray to your Father in secret (Mt 6:5-6) and maybe e...

Today the Churches remember

God calls you to the silent solitude in which the two of you can converse in prayer. God wants to speak to your heart. The Bible speaks of the heart as the center of the human person, the dee...

Take the Bible in your hands and hold it in front of you with the same reverence you would give to the Body of Christ. Make an epiclesis, an invocation of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit directs the Wo...

Now open the Bible and read the text. Never open if at random. The Word of God deserves to be eaten whole, not nibbled at casually. Follow the cycle of readings in the lectionary with an open mind,...

What does it mean, to meditate? This is not always easy to say. Certainly, it means to deepen the message you have read and to find out what God wants to communicate to you. You must do some work, ...

Now speak to God. Respond to God's invitations: to the calls, the inspirations, the messages God has given you by the Holy Spirit's power in the Word. Do you see that you have been welcomed...

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple On February 2 all of the Christian churches celebrate the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple Lectionary

Oscar (ca. 800-865) monk and pastor Oscar (Anskar), a Benedictine monk who served as bishop of Hamburg and Bremen, Germany, died in Bremen in 86

The Churches remember...

The forty-nine elders of Scetis (d. 444) monks and martyrs Today the Coptic Church commemorates the forty-nine martyrs of Scetis

V International Liturgical Conference BAPTISTERYBose, May 31 - June 2, 2007Monastery of BoseNational Office for the Church's Cultural Heritage of the Italian Bishops' Conference<...

Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) Lutheran pastor In 1705 Philipp Jakob Spener, a Lutheran preacher and an advocate of pietism in Germany, died in Berlin