“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up…And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold… Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Luke 8: 5, 8
Photos of birds at the Abbey of St. Walburga
We hear in Luke’s Gospel about the parable of the sower. As I was thinking about this reading, I thought about how birds usually just peck at one thing at a time. Isn’t that what happens to us in life? The “birds” peck away at the time we have to spend with God. They just take one minute at a time. It’s like when you sit down to do lectio divina and realize that your books are out of place, so you put them back in order – and there goes one seed. And then you see that your bed isn’t made yet, and there goes another couple seeds. And then you’re sitting there drinking your coffee and reading the Word, and then of course you notice a stack of papers that are in the wrong place, so you think you’ll just get them put away quickly, but then there’s another seed gone. Pretty soon, practically all the seeds have been eaten up! You’ve been in your room alright, but what have you been doing there? All those little things that are so hard not to pay attention to.
And I pondered how often this happens to us throughout the day, too. “Acedia” doesn’t mean that you don’t work, but that you’re doing the things you’re not supposed to be doing. How many times do you find yourself running hard in the opposite direction from what you’re really supposed to be doing? In the moment, it seems that “Anything else is better than what I’m supposed to be doing right now.” And yet, being attentive to our present duty it is what God is calling us to. And that takes a great deal of discipline, just to do what you’re supposed to do. Everything else is like the little ravens that are running around picking up the seeds, taking the minutes away from doing what we should be doing. All those little distractions steal from us our time with God, and we should be on guard against them.
I wonder if Martha was tempted by the birds during the dinner at Bethany, when she was busying about with every possible detail of hospitality? Jesus gently reprimanded her to not be so anxious, and that her sister had chosen the “better part” by sitting at His feet. But it seems that Martha took His correction without any bitterness, because we know that she was the first one to come out and meet Jesus when He came to raise Lazarus from the dead. She wasn’t hiding somewhere because she was ashamed of being reprimanded. What a humble soul she must have been. I pray that if we find ourselves tempted by the birds, we will have the courage to turn back to Christ and look to Him for help and guidance.
This year our community has adopted the practice of all-day exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Mondays, with the particular intention of praying for our Holy Father and for priests. Spending extra time in adoration is like giving the widow’s mite, because as everyone knows, time is one of the most precious things to us. So when we give the little that we have, it is no small thing.
It’s so difficult today to be a priest, and equally so to be a religious. It’s just not so valued, and it’s even fought against. And so we need to pray, because we are the heartbeat of the Church with our prayer. A strong heart brings gives to all the members; without that, major organs die. That is how important our prayer is. So when you go to adore Christ in the Eucharist, it makes no difference if you feel glorious about it or if you feel just the opposite; the important part is just being there. Whatever prayer Christ puts in your heart – if you say the rosary, if you just sit there and be with Him, if you read the Scriptures – whatever it be, do it wholly. Even if you sit there and just repeat the words of St. Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” that would be enough. But let your heart say it. And the priests, our pope, in their hearts will hear that heartbeat. May we help it to beat strong.
About the photos: In honor of the National Eucharistic Revival (running from Corpus Christi 2022 to Pentecost 2025), we recently changed the décor of our chapel, hanging behind the tabernacle the tapestry of the Last Supper. This tapestry, hand woven by a nun at our motherhouse in Germany, was originally in our chapel at Boulder, but when we moved to Virginia Dale it would not fit in the space along with our large clay crucifix. But by replacing that large crucifix with the smaller one we had been using in our refectory, we were able to have the Last Supper tapestry return to the chapel sanctuary.
In the process of hanging the tapestry and crucifixThe change in chapel décor was complete in time for Sister Maria-Placida’s vow renewal on July 11, the Solemnity of St. Benedict. Join us in praying for her as she now prepares for her solemn profession!
A reflection for the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
“The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.”
St. John the Baptist speaking of Jesus in John 3:29-30
Nuns of the Abbey of St. Walburga fishing at a nearby reservoir, reminiscent of John’s mission field: baptizing in the Jordan River
John the Baptist must have been a very humble man. Everyone surely knew the story surrounding his birth – how his father Zechariah became mute when he was serving in the temple because he did not believe the angel who told him about the destiny of his unborn son (cf. Luke 1:5-25), but regained his speech when John was born. Scripture says that, “then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to hear saying, ‘What, then, will this child be?’ For surely the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:65-66). But did John let this fame get to him? No. Instead, we know that he wore camel’s hair and survived on locusts and wild honey when he grew up! (cf. Mark 1:6). He stayed humble all his life, and pointed to Jesus when He came to the Jordan River to be baptized, telling his followers, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world…the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel” (John 1: 29,31). And at the end of his life, when he was imprisoned for telling King Herod that it was wrong to marry his brother’s wife (cf. Mark 6:17-20), John had the humility to ask Christ for confirmation of His identity. “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3). He wasn’t afraid to humble himself to find the right path. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he wasn’t certain of the truth, and he had the courage to ask Jesus for help.
Humility is the work of a lifetime, and like John, we do not know the day nor the hour of our death. But if one strives to live humbly, he too will come to that “perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin” (Holy Rule of St. Benedict, Ch. 7 on Humility).
A reflection for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
Around the year 90 AD, the Didache recounts how important the Eucharistic celebration was for the early Christians:
“On the Lord’s Day of the Lord gather together, break bread and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure. Let no one who has a quarrel with his neighbor join you until he is reconciled by the Lord: ‘In every place and time let there be offered to me a clean sacrifice.”
Also, around 110 AD, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote beautifully of the Eucharist:
“I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His Blood, which is love incorruptible.”
(Letter to the Romans7:3)
“Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: For there is one flesh of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery…”
(Letter to the Philadelphians 4:1)
“They [i.e. the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his goodness, raised up again.”
(Letter to Smyrnians 7:1)
And of course we have St. Justin Martyr’s (c. 100-165 AD) account of the Eucharistic celebration:
“For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”
(First Apology, 66)
Origen (185-254 AD) writes of the care and concern for every particle of the Eucharist, that it would not fall on the ground:
“You are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries, so you know how, when you have received the body of the Lord, you reverently exercise every care lest a particle of it fall, and lest anything of the consecrated gift perish….how is it that you think neglecting the word of God a lesser crime than neglecting his body?”
(Homilies on Exodus 13:3)
Oh that we had that much care and concern as the Church fathers and early Christians did for the Eucharist. But it begins with seeds. If a field has been heavily trampled upon, farmers have to re-seed it. It strengthens the old seed and makes it come up reinvigorated. We should be that seed. If we show reverence, adore the Eucharist, forgive everyone before we receive Him, have faith and belief, and most especially love, we plant the seeds to reinvigorate the Church. We should not be afraid to be vulnerable – even though it is the thing we most often want to run away from, it is often how God uses us most powerfully. If we learn to embrace this, we are like the seed that dies and is broken open, so that it may flourish. Become a seed. Become a saint. That is what God is looking for to reinvigorate His Church, that it may flourish.
Last year’s Corpus Christi procession at the Abbey of St. Walburga
In John 15 and 16, Jesus tells his apostles that He is about to return to His Father – I can imagine there was a great heaviness in His voice due to His imminent passion and death, but then it seems that a light breaks through the darkness when He speaks of the coming of the Paraclete. He tells his apostles to actually get excited, because He is about to send them the Holy Spirit. And we should be excited, too. We should feel the excitement of this time leading up to Pentecost. Jesus has died for you. Jesus has risen for you. Heaven has been opened for you. And Jesus continues to pour out His Holy Spirit on you. What a glory. What a joy!
Some lovely “Ascension clouds” over the Abbey of St. Walburga
Luke tells us of Jesus’ Ascension in his Gospel: “Then he led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God” (Luke 24:50-53). Let us do the same as the apostles – let us go to church, full of excitement for what’s coming, a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let us imitate the zeal of the apostles in the early Church, who lived as though Jesus would return any minute.
We also hear a description of the Ascension in the Acts of the Apostles: “When they had gathered together they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven’” (Acts 1:6-11). So, I encourage you, every once in a while, remember to look up at the sky. Is He there? One day, He really will come, whether it is in our lifetime or not. The fact that it’s going to happen is glorious – And we will be taken up to meet Him in the clouds (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Think about this! We should be excited to hear about these things and ponder them, and respond by living full of expectation for His coming. I hope we can all live with the spark of joy that this news brings, because the world needs the joy of God.
“The departing Jesus does not make his way to some distant star. He enters into communion of power and life with the living God, into God’s dominion over space… Because Jesus is with the Father, he has not gone away but remains close to us. Now he is no longer in one particular place in the world as he had been before the ‘Ascension’: now, through his power over space, he is present and accessible to all—throughout history and in every place… ‘We have come to know a threefold coming of the Lord. The third coming takes place between the other two…his first coming was in the flesh and in weakness, this intermediary coming is in the spirit and in power, the last coming will be in glory and majesty’ (In Adventu Domini [by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux]).”
The idol of body image is very common in the world today. If people cared half as much about what their souls looked like as what their bodies looked like, we would be one holy people! But the monastic diet is different—we receive whatever we are given, and with gratitude. It is one of the ways in which we express monastic poverty. Monastic poverty regarding food is to accept what you are given with thanksgiving (except if you have a serious allergy!). According to St. Benedict, there should be balance and moderation in all things, and that means there is a time for fasting, and a time for feasting. Haven’t you heard that the acronym BMW stands for “Benedictine Moderation Works”? For we know from St. Gregory’s writings that the Lord sent a priest to St. Benedict on Easter Sunday with prepared delicacies, in order that His servant (St. Benedict) got a share in the feast day meal. So it isn’t that God doesn’t want us to have feast days, but rather that He doesn’t want our bellies to be our gods. Let us be aware of this temptation, so that we can fight the idolatry of body image in our world. It is a great witness today that we are just grateful for everything we get, and in this way we not only feed our bodies, but our souls as well.
A feast day specialty — a berry tart in honor of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart
I love how the first thing out of Jesus’ mouth to His Apostles after His resurrection is, “Peace be with you” (John 20:18). When I think of what “peace” means, I think it’s not so much about what’s going on outside as what’s going on inside. It’s the ultimate trust in God – believing that He is in control, and that no matter what happens, He has allowed it, and is taking care of it completely. I think that’s what gives God the greatest glory – when we truly trust Him to take care. Maybe it won’t be taken care of according to my timeline, but it’s His timeline that matters, not mine! I have to have confidence that it’s in His hands. I don’t have to worry about it. Sometimes we like to take back the things we’ve handed over to Him, saying, “Thanks for holding onto it, but now I’ll take care of it again!” But to place things in His hands and then really leave it there…That is truly a wonderful gift we can offer to God.
Easter is a time to give thanks, and praise Him for His power, and believe so confidently in that power. And then nothing can take your peace away. Nothing. The only thing that can take it away is if you give it away, in the sense that you allow somebody to take it, because you give somebody or something more power than your confidence in God. The peace of Christ in unshakeable, and I wish that Easter peace to everybody today.
May your peace be as unshakeable as this plant bursting through the asphalt this Easter
Our community hold the tradition of anticipating Easter by praying Jeremiah’s Lamentations during the Divine Office on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday every year. Our custom is to appoint a different Sister to sing these in Latin during Matins. Beginning with the most junior nun assigned to sing, and ending with our Abbess, Mother Maria-Michael, this video highlights a short segment from each of the nine Lamentations passages we use.
Below is the full text of these moving scriptures:
Lamentations 1:1-5
How solitary sits the city, once filled with people. She who was great among the nations is now like a widow. Once a princess among the provinces, now a toiling slave.
She weeps incessantly in the night, her cheeks damp with tears. She has no one to comfort her from all her lovers; Her friends have all betrayed her, and become her enemies.
Judah has gone into exile, after oppression and harsh labor; She dwells among the nations, yet finds no rest: All her pursuers overtake her in the narrow straits.
The roads to Zion mourn, empty of pilgrims to her feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, Her young women grieve; her lot is bitter.
Her foes have come out on top, her enemies are secure; Because the LORD has afflicted her for her many rebellions. Her children have gone away, captive before the foe.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 1:6-9
From daughter Zion has gone all her glory: Her princes have become like rams that find no pasture. They have gone off exhausted before their pursuers.
Jerusalem remembers in days of wretched homelessness, All the precious things she once had in days gone by. But when her people fell into the hands of the foe, and she had no help, Her foes looked on and laughed at her collapse.
Jerusalem has sinned grievously, therefore she has become a mockery; Those who honored her now demean her, for they saw her nakedness; She herself groans out loud, and turns away.
Her uncleanness is on her skirt; she has no thought of her future. Her downfall is astonishing, with no one to comfort her. “Look, O LORD, at my misery; how the enemy triumphs!”
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 1:10-14
The foe stretched out his hands to all her precious things; She has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, Those you forbade to come into your assembly.
All her people groan, searching for bread; They give their precious things for food, to retain the breath of life. “Look, O LORD, and pay attention to how I have been demeaned!
Come, all who pass by the way, pay attention and see: Is there any pain like my pain, which has been ruthlessly inflicted upon me, With which the LORD has tormented me on the day of his blazing wrath?
From on high he hurled fire down into my very bones; He spread out a net for my feet, and turned me back. He has left me desolate, in misery all day long.
The yoke of my rebellions is bound together, fastened by his hand. His yoke is upon my neck; he has made my strength fail. The Lord has delivered me into the grip of those I cannot resist.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 2:8-11
The LORD was bent on destroying the wall of daughter Zion: He stretched out the measuring line; did not hesitate to devour, Brought grief on rampart and wall till both succumbed.
Her gates sank into the ground; he smashed her bars to bits. Her king and her princes are among the nations; instruction is wanting, Even her prophets do not obtain any vision from the LORD.
The elders of daughter Zion sit silently on the ground; They cast dust on their heads and dress in sackcloth; The young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.
My eyes are spent with tears, my stomach churns; My bile is poured out on the ground at the brokenness of the daughter of my people, As children and infants collapse in the streets of the town.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 2:12-15
They cry out to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, As their life is poured out in their mothers’ arms.
To what can I compare you—to what can I liken you— O daughter Jerusalem? What example can I give in order to comfort you, virgin daughter Zion? For your breach is vast as the sea; who could heal you?
Your prophets provided you visions of whitewashed illusion; They did not lay bare your guilt, in order to restore your fortunes; They saw for you only oracles of empty deceit.
All who pass by on the road, clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their heads over daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city they used to call perfect in beauty and joy of all the earth?”
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 3:1-9
I am one who has known affliction under the rod of God’s anger, One whom he has driven and forced to walk in darkness, not in light; Against me alone he turns his hand— again and again all day long. He has worn away my flesh and my skin, he has broken my bones; He has besieged me all around with poverty and hardship; He has left me to dwell in dark places like those long dead. He has hemmed me in with no escape, weighed me down with chains; Even when I cry for help, he stops my prayer; He has hemmed in my ways with fitted stones, and made my paths crooked.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 3:22-30
The LORD’s acts of mercy are not exhausted, his compassion is not spent; They are renewed each morning— great is your faithfulness! The LORD is my portion, I tell myself, therefore I will hope in him. The LORD is good to those who trust in him, to the one that seeks him; It is good to hope in silence for the LORD’s deliverance. It is good for a person, when young, to bear the yoke, To sit alone and in silence, when its weight lies heavy, To put one’s mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope— To offer one’s cheek to be struck, to be filled with disgrace.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 4:1-6
How the gold has lost its luster, the noble metal changed; Jewels lie scattered at the corner of every street.
And Zion’s precious children, worth their weight in gold— How they are treated like clay jugs, the work of any potter!
Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young; But the daughter of my people is as cruel as the ostrich in the wilderness.
The tongue of the infant cleaves to the roof of its mouth in thirst; Children beg for bread, but no one gives them a piece.
Those who feasted on delicacies are abandoned in the streets; Those who reclined on crimson now embrace dung heaps.
The punishment of the daughter of my people surpassed the penalty of Sodom, Which was overthrown in an instant with no hand laid on it.
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Lamentations 5:1-11
Remember, LORD, what has happened to us, pay attention, and see our disgrace: Our heritage is turned over to strangers, our homes, to foreigners. We have become orphans, without fathers; our mothers are like widows. We pay money to drink our own water, our own wood comes at a price. With a yoke on our necks, we are driven; we are worn out, but allowed no rest. We extended a hand to Egypt and Assyria, to satisfy our need of bread. Our ancestors, who sinned, are no more; but now we bear their guilt. Servants rule over us, with no one to tear us from their hands. We risk our lives just to get bread, exposed to the desert heat; Our skin heats up like an oven, from the searing blasts of famine. Women are raped in Zion, young women in the cities of Judah…
(Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be converted to the Lord your God)
Watercolor of the stream running through the Abbey property
I was reading a little bit about the history of relics, and discovered that in the first centuries after Christ’s life, they would build altars over the places where martyrs were killed for the Christian faith. It is from that practice that we get the tradition of placing relics in the altars of Catholic churches when they are being constructed. It is good to remember those who have gone before us and laid down their lives for Christ; those martyrdoms are what our Church is built on. And it is good to remember that there are many unknown martyrs, who Christ knows so well.
I think especially of the white martyrs – the monastics. We are called to be martyrs, and give ourselves up for the love of Christ. We embody in a particular way the Gospel passage where Jesus’ relatives think He is “out of his mind” (cf. Mark 3:21). Isn’t that what some people think about martyrs? “Why are you dying for that?!” Similarly, many people wonder about people who choose to live the monastic life: “Why are you doing that?!” There is the red martyrdom, where blood is shed, and only God can give the grace for someone to have the courage for that. Only God can give the grace for someone to embrace white martyrdom, too. To live so closely to each other in community, serving each other even when there are difficulties and personality clashes, denying our self-will, following a schedule every day – these are all little martyrdoms that our world does not understand. The world may think we are a little crazy, but thank the Lord! Our ways are meant to be different than the world’s.
Really, every person is called to a type of martyrdom. Marriage is a type of martyrdom. Any vocation can be a martyrdom if lived well, because every vocation is meant to bring us to holiness, to bring us closer to Christ, to bring us to imitate Him Who gave up His life for the love of others. Being faithful to whatever God calls us to is the important thing, and that is one thing that is very mysterious to our culture: fidelity. Thank the Lord if people call you a little crazy, because they called Jesus a little crazy, too.
Their action resembles the snow which, covering the heights, is melted by the warm rays of the sun, and descends in life-giving streams to fertilise the valleys and plains.
We all know the story of Christ calling St. Peter out to walk on water. When the apostles saw Jesus walking on the sea toward them, Peter said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matt. 14:28). Christ tells him to “come,” so he steps out of the boat onto the water, but then he begins to sink and cries out. This episode shows how evil tries to make us doubt. That is one of the tools that evil tries to use against us – to doubt our faith, to doubt God’s love for us – and that is not from God.
When Jesus stretches out his hand to catch Peter from downing and says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31), I don’t think He was rebuking Peter in a harsh way, or criticizing Peter for messing up again. I think Jesus was simply saying, “What made you think I wasn’t calling you forth? Don’t depend on yourself, but keep your eyes on Me, and follow through with confidence. You can trust Me.”
There is a point when we should actually doubt ourselves, and that is if we haven’t prayed. But if we have prayed first, and we feel confident about receiving direction from the Lord, then we should continue with confidence, and not let anything make us turn to the left or to the right. It is for us to put our trust in God, and not fear, and never take our eyes off Him. And if ever we begin to doubt, we should immediately call upon Him, like St. Peter did, and He will take care.
Our Sister Maria of Jesus, OSB, stepping out in faith and love, professed her solemn monastic vows on February 10! Adding to the already glorious occasion of the Solemnity of Saint Scholastica, Sister Maria’s profession day was a truly blessed and joyous one, and we were happy that so many of her loved ones were able to join us for the celebration. Click here to read an article from the Denver Catholic about Sister Maria’s Solemn Profession.
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila calls Sister Maria forth to begin the rite of monastic profession
Sister Maria processes to the front of the church carrying her profession candle
During the Archbishop’s homily
Professing her monastic vows in the hands of Mother Maria-Michael
Singing her “Suscipe”
The Archbishop prays the prayer of monastic consecration over Sister Maria
Clothed with her new veil and cuculla (choir robe)
The Archbishop places her ring on her finger
Singing the “Ipsi Sum”
Presenting her candle to the Archbishop
The perfect picture to describe the motto Sister Maria took: “Looking to Jesus, Who emptied Himself”
The Archbishop’s closing remarks
Mother Maria-Michael and Sister Maria processing out of the chapel at the close of the celebration
