Sometimes visitors and guests at the monastery look at us quizzically when we say we are an ecumenical monastery. They might not ask the question outright, but they wonder: “How does that work?” We’ve held the vision of an ecumenical community for twenty years. Some people could not see the vision and others said: “It isn’t possible. You can’t do it.” Father Ken Smits, OFM Cap. who used to work with us in the area of liturgy wrote this about ecumenism here: “The ecumenism at Holy Wisdom Monastery is a practical ecumenism, grounded in hospitality, inviting development of community, which is fostered …
Scripture Commentary for August 19, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 15 August 19, 2012 FIRST READING First Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 Our reading jumps from the account of David’s death to Solomon’s killing his older half-brother, Adonijah, and David’s old general, Joab, because he suspected them of planning a coup. But there ends the violence. Solomon’s prayer is a sort of hinge in the saga of the family, closing a story of family murder and warfare bred of ambition, and opening a story of sane rule and religious tolerance. Solomon does not ask for power or riches or honor, but with a humility uncharacteristic of his family, he asks for …
Patti Lacross' Homily from August 19, 2012
Twentieth Sunday August 19, 2012 Proverbs 9: 1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 We Benedictine, inclusive (c)atholic followers believe that Jesus is most emphatically here, with us, around this table. We call this Eucharist “Sacrament”: neither symbol nor re-enactment, but a real time encounter with the God whose invisible activity works always, at the very heart of things.* “Just as the living God sent me and I live because of God, so whoever eats me will live because of me.” John the Evangelist introduces us to Jesus as Sacrament, as Eucharist, to make of all we who would follow him First Generation Christians.* …
Scripture Commentary for August 12, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 14 August 12, 2012 FIRST READING Second Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 David loved his son Absalom, who was beautiful, charismatic and shrewd. Absolom killed David’s oldest son, his half brother, for raping Tamar, Absalom’s full sister. Revenge it might be, but the killing put Absalom next in line for the throne. David had grown old and feeble, but he didn’t die. Absalom couldn’t wait. He fomented a rebellion, raised an army and attacked Jerusalem. But David, the wiley old fox, outwitted him in warfare. The events in our reading take place during the final battle, clearly being won by …
Leora Weitzman's Homily from August 12, 2012
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ August 12, 2012 ~ 1 Kings 19:4-8; Eph 4:25-5:2; Jn 6:35, 41-51 We are what we eat. The more like God we want to be, the more we need to nourish ourselves with God, any way that we can. That’s why we’re here this morning. What do we feed on the rest of the week? Too often, we indulge in spiritual junk food: sensationalist media, gossip, judgmental conversations (which are no less judgmental if our judgments happen to be true…… if, indeed, any thought that judges a created being can be true in the …
Scripture Commentary for August 5, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 13 August 5, 2012 FIRST READING Second Samuel 11:26-12:13a Today we have the conclusion to the dreadful story of David’s sinful pursuit of Uriah’s wife, even to having Uriah killed on the battlefield. We hear a parable being told by the prophet Nathan and his stunning words of accusation. They need no explanation. The punishments from God that Nathan pronounces upon David are never carried out. In the verses following our reading, David simply admits that he has sinned, and God says OK, but you cannot have the child. Bathsheba gives birth to a son, and God takes him …
Scripture Commentary for July 29, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 12 July 29, 2012 FIRST READING Second Samuel 11:1-15 Today we have one of the most famous and most vicious courtships in the western world. It is a dreadful story David seduces Bathsheba, a married woman he had not laid eyes on until that day. By the taboos of his society, the sexual congress leaves him unclean, for she has not completed the process of purifying herself after menstruation (see Lev 15:19-24). Basheba seems to have missed her next period, for she tells David she is pregnant. The only way he can cover his misbehavior is for Bathsheba to …
Scripture Commentary for July 22, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 11 July 22, 2012 FIRST READING Second Samuel 7:1-14a In his battles and politics David has been guided by God, who speaks to him directly. But now there appears a prophet named Nathan, who sometimes brings God’s messages to David. Through Nathan’s intersession, God makes a covenant with David, another of those lop-sided covenants in which God promises all and asks nothing in return. God will bring David peace, and he will establish a son on the throne after David dies. This son will build the Jerusalem Temple. The son who survived the family quarrels and became king and …
Libby Caes' Homily from July 15, 2012
Holy Wisdom Monastery, July 15, 2012 Amos 7.7-15; Psalm 85: 8 ff.; Eph. 1:3-14; Mark 6: 14-29 Since Easter one of my challenges has been balance. If you were to hold a plumb line (open the straight line) next to me when I am standing with my eyes closed and feet close together, you would notice that I sway a bit. A plumb line is a string with a weight at the bottom of it. Similar to this straight line which my husband Dave uses to mark a straight line before cutting drywall. But plumb lines are not used on …
Scripture Commentary for July 15, 2012 by Arthur H. Cash
PROPER 10 July 15, 2012 FIRST READING Second Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Our bishops have cut an interesting piece from the middle of the story of how David brought the Arc from the house of Abinadab to the City of David. Uzzah, one of the men carrying the Arc on poles, put his hand on the Arc to steady it, a well-intentioned move which angered God, who struck him dead on the spot. That made David afraid to bring the Arc to the City; so he had it taken to the house of Obededom. When nothing but good things happened to …