Eve of the Fourth Sunday of Advent: December 23, 2017 Tonight’s candle fairly quivers with the joy of expectation! It will burn only one day but stands as a herald of Emmanuel. God-with-us, God to whom we can always open more of our being in the trust and love of a child of God. May the Child in the manger, whose coming at Bethlehem inaugurated the Kingdom of God, of…
Eve of the Third Sunday of Advent: December 16, 2017 As we begin the liturgy for the Third Sunday of Advent, we light this candle to burn a full week. Next Sunday we will be joyously awaiting the dawn of our salvation in the person of Jesus. This week’s candle opens its heart to receive the spark of Emmanuel into our daily lives. Lives “humble, obscure and laborious” as our…
November-December 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Christmas is just around the corner, but here's a little news from November and early December. We'll publish a Christmas journal entry sometime after the New Year. Thanksgiving Day We hope you and your loved ones enjoyed a lovely day of thanks-giving on Nov 23. Here are a few photos from our own celebration: Fr. Jim at the altar during Mass, Sisters receiving communion,…
Eve of the Second Sunday of Advent: December 9, 2017 Tonight, as we light our second advent candle, the glow of the reality of God-with-us spreads in all directions. We take another step in the journey of openness to The Presence. Last week our journey took us within, to our center where God and each person are one. How much do we believe that God fills everything? Literally everything! We…
Eve of the First Sunday of Advent: December 2, 2017 This evening we take our first step into the hallowed time of Advent. We light a candle to focus our desire, toward… toward what? What is it we experience when we enter that deepest place of quiet in our being? It can be confusing sometimes when we sing about opposing realities. We sing, “O come, O come Emmanuel.” Emmanuel, Hebrew…
October 2017 (part 2) at Santa Rita Abbey Annual Retreat & A Little Halloween Fun Our annual community retreat was the week of October 15-21 this year. We stay right here for our retreat, but we take a holiday from our Cistercian Altar Bread bakery production. We never take a holiday from prayer, however, so we got up at 3:00 a.m. for the Office of Vigils as usual, then Lauds…
October 19, 2017: A Reflection on Luke 10:38-42 "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing." I must admit it. I have a soft spot in my heart for Martha. I can understand her frustration and the range of emotions that must have filled her as she scurried about, preparing a meal for their guest, Jesus, while her sister just sat…
September-October 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey Mother Vicki was away at our Order's General Chapter for most of the month of September. It is always an extraordinary experience to be among abbots and abbesses of our Order from all around the world--the unity of the Order, of the…
September 19, 2017: A Reflection on Matthew 10:5-8 Jesus sent out the twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost…
July & August 2017 at Santa Rita Abbey After a very bad fire season in the Sonoita-Elgin area this year (the Sawmill Fire in April, the Kellogg Fire in May, and the Encino Fire in June, to…
