Daily Reflections

  This week we take a tour through St. Paul’s powerful first letter to the Corinthians. In it, he calls the Corinthians to clean up their act and return to the Gospel. He tells them that he didn’t come to them with “sublimity” or high and mighty words. He came to them with the truth…

  “You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped…” We can all relate to this on some level. We start out on a path with high hopes and dreams. Then we run into challenges we never saw coming. Oh, the things we never signed up for! I started out at Conception Abbey…

  We often have to admit that God’s ways are not our ways. Sometimes God’s ways seem to derail our desires and best intentions but even make no sense from our perspective. That struggle to accept God’s ways can leave us weary and even wondering whether our God is a loving God. The worldwide pandemic…

  Yesterday’s celebration of St. Monica was a natural introduction to the towering figure of her son St. Augustine of Hippo. As an early theologian and doctor of the Church, St. Augustine set the bar very high for all who would lift up the mysteries of faith to greater understanding and appreciation. Augustine brought a…

  I once heard a story about an exam given to police recruits to test their response to unusual situations. The question was: “What would you do if you had to stop a speeder who turned out to be your mother?” One young man answered: “I’d call for back-up!” It is true that mothers can…

  COVID-19 has drastically changed the way people around the world live and interact with one another. What was once normal is no more. Social gatherings carry the danger of disease. Rather than gathering in person, many now turn to the computer and its ability to transport people through the wonders of virtual reality. In…

  We have some very avid gardeners in the monastery. They love to get their hands dirty with digging, planting, weeding, and then nurturing with plenty of TLC. Those tomato plants get extra help when a wire cage is put around each one to hold it upright. Is St. Paul speaking as a tomato grower…

  We’ve all see those “pay-for-view” telescopes around major tourist sites. Put in the right coin, and you can scan the distant object of interest or even zoom in on some unsuspecting pedestrian who is simply walking by. The point is that we often need help to see something truly important whether it is an…

  The worldwide fascination with exploring the surface of Mars makes us think long-term. What will we earthlings bring with us as we land and begin to populate new living spaces? We could bring contaminating germs and microbes or positive enthusiasm for new possibilities for building a new lifestyle with room to grow. It would…

  Jesus said, “You have but one Father in heaven; you have but one master, the Christ.” As we have one Father and one Master, Jesus wants us to give God our entire self, our whole being — to give ourselves to Him entirely — not holding back, not half-hearted, not reluctantly, but totally and…

  I was reading a Gospel reflection, and a sentence stuck out as if God had taken a bright yellow highlighter and clearly marked it for me. The line read: “No love can ever fill your heart like the love of God.” This statement could not speak the truth more clearly, yet I think about…

  St. Bernard, whose memorial we celebrate today, was born in 1090, in Fontaines, a castle not far from Dijon, France. In 1112, Bernard entered the monastery of Cîteaux (France) and became a magnificent reformer and preacher. In one of his sermons for the feast of the Ascension, St. Bernard exhorts the faithful to humility…

  Growing up as the middle of three boys, there were plenty of opportunities to object to my parents: “That’s not fair!” I can think back on the portions of food or drink given to us, permissions to play with friends, or even television time — if any one of us felt that it was…

  The Prophet Ezekiel has some strong words for the leader of Tyre (the ancient Phoenician port city) who in his haughtiness believes himself to be something greater than who he really is. Ezekiel exclaims, “Yet you are a man, and not a god, however, you may think yourself like a god.” This foreign leader…

  Jesus encounters many religious leaders during his ministry who are trying to ensnare him in his speech or are simply too hard-hearted to receive his words of preaching. It is refreshing to read the young man approach Jesus in sincerity and ask him, Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” The…

  A Canaanite woman, a foreigner for the Jews, asks Jesus to heal her daughter who was “terribly troubled by a demon.” This is a beautiful request because it is not for herself, but for her beloved daughter, which is why it’s a little confusing for us to understand why the Lord initially resisted her…

  “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Today we celebrate the great feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when she was assumed body and soul into heaven. I remember 11…

  “Raymond, what will become of you?” At an early age, Raymond Kolbe was a mischievous little boy who got into trouble a lot. His mother said to him, after stealing eggs from the neighbor’s chicken, “Raymond what will become of you?” Little Raymond was perplexed by this and turned to the Blessed Mother and…

  There are days when I want to break out of the monastery, thinking, “I want to make a difference in the world, especially with all the violence we see constantly.” But as I said yesterday, I can’t. It is impossible for me to do this, not only because of my monastic vow of stability,…

  I know this may become a shock to some people, but I am a sinner. Yes, it’s true. I sin. Even in a monastery, no one is perfect. Our Lord says in the Gospel today, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he…

  My grandmother had a nine-month-old daughter pass away because of an infection, and I remember my grandmother telling me, “one of the nuns who I knew said, ‘you don’t know how lucky you are! You have your own personal saint!’ Br. Maximilian, I have never wanted to hit a nun so hard in my…

  In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus say, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” What Jesus is saying…

  This Sunday has two of my favorite readings. In the First Book of Kings, Elijah hears the voice of the Lord as a whisper, and in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus allows Peter to come to him on the waters. First, let’s start with Elijah when he was waiting to see the Lord. The Lord allowed…

  St. Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers, began his itinerant evangelizing in response to a threat to the Catholic Church. This came through the Albigensians who set up a rival church. They were Gnostics, a term that comes from the Greek word for “knowledge.” Gnosticism says there is a secret wisdom that…

  Does God care? This is a perennial question by most that are open to belief in God. And for atheists, the existence of evil – despite the very fact that we Christians proclaim a good God who made the world good – is reason enough to believe there is no God. Today the prophet…

  Since Pope St. John Paul II composed and instituted the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary (Virginis Mariae 2002), these particular Christ events are contemplated on Thursdays. The Fourth Luminous Mystery is the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is therefore appropriate that we consider Mary and her Son’s glorification in the flesh at Mount Tabor…

  When the Israelites set out on the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, they left behind more than oppression. The land of enslavement did not just have meat, it had overflowing fleshpots (cf. Ex. 16:3); it had tasty vegetables (Numbers 11:5). The hardscrabble nomadic life in the Sinai desert was another story. So even when…

  Being offended is not a moral virtue. Yes, being sensitive and empathetic to the plight of God’s little ones who suffer injustice and marginalization is right, but only if it rouses us to work for concrete solutions to help them. If we are merely offended and pay lip service to justice and conversion, then…

  The prophets Hannaniah and Jeremiah represent two types: the prophet of hope and the prophet of doom. The content of Jeremiah’s book is bad news. This is not by choice; in fact, he laments he would rather not speak these words but feels compelled by God (cf. Jer. 20:7-9). The Lord chose Jeremiah to…

We are so grateful you choose to take this Online Spiritual Journey each day with us. Because we work to reopen our guest and seminary ministries this month, we are discontinuing the weekly video portion of the Online Spiritual Journey. We will, however, continue to provide daily written reflections in your inbox and at lent.conceptionabbey.org.…

  Prophets can be annoying. Perhaps better put, prophets know how to get to the heart of the matter. They speak out when others are silent. They rock the boat. They push people to think in new ways even though those new ways are very unpopular, sometimes even unheard of. Prophets have a message for…

  “Jesus did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” It distressed Jesus to see the lack of faith in the people there, though he knew and even said that prophets are rarely accepted in their own place or country. It is clear that people were impressed with Jesus. They had…

  The question comes to us today: what are the scriptures trying to tell us today? Perhaps this: there is, of course, a wisdom that comes from God — a wisdom that we are meant to receive, to share in, to participate in, and to possess. This is the Wisdom of God, the creator of…

  This Gospel passage has been used at many funeral masses, and masses for the faithful departed. We hear a key declaration of Jesus himself: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” And, yet,…

  A plea for mercy. A cry for pity. For strength. In powerfully emotional words, the passage from Jeremiah tells the story of a people deeply wounded, even overwhelmed. It is clearly enough for the people to wonder if God has indeed abandoned them. They are pleading with God to remember the covenant of old.…

  Things take time. Growth. Change. Progress. Insight. Understanding. All of these are not “fast food” type items. It is easy to see this in nature. Seeds planted in spring grow over a span of weeks and produce a harvest, provided they are nourished with sun and water in good balance. Small saplings planted 15…

    The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed a pearl of great price, a net thrown into the sea that catches many fish, a treasure hidden in a field. So what is the Kingdom of Heaven like? Really. Jesus in the Gospel selections for recent days – Sundays and weekdays – has…

  St. James is one of my favorite saints and is my favorite apostle. The parish I grew up in was St. James Church in Washington, Iowa. It also has a parochial school, St. James Elementary. I went to school there for all my elementary education. Needless to say, I’ve been friends with St. James…

  “Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.” Luke 8:15 It is worth asking how one is supposed to keep a generous heart to then yield an abundant harvest. Conventional wisdom holds that you only get ahead by keeping the best things for yourself.…

  “You have revealed to little ones the mystery of the Kingdom” (MT 11:25) Jesus praises God for revealing His secrets to children, to those who are little. Children start life without preconceived notions and prejudices so they often are more open to receiving God’s graces. We can’t stay young forever, so we need to…