Photos from the 2025 calendar
This year’s wall calendar features photos of our Abbey over the course of the past 90 years. It notes the days of the Church’s liturgical seasons, together with days commemorated by the Order of St. Benedict, as they are observed by our community. The cost is $13.00 (plus shipping) per calendar.
To place an order, please send an email to aswgiftshop@gmail.com or call (970) 472-0612.
A reflection on Lenten fasting by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
Bowl of ashes used during Mass on Ash Wednesday
“See, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. See, you fast only to quarrel and fight, and to strike with a wicked fist!… Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own?”
Isaiah 58:3-8
There are so many ways we can apply this reading from Isaiah to our lives. Here are just a few examples that came to my mind as I was thinking about this idea of holy fasting:
Releasing those bound unjustly. This can be anyone you judge in your heart and are holding a grudge against. There’s one to release!
Untying the thongs of the yoke and setting free the oppressed. There are many behaviors by which we can yoke each other. Emotional behaviors that harm others or leave them feeling oppressed can be lifted. We’ve all been guilty of that passive aggressive attitude where we’re angry and we want someone to know it—without saying a word we are loud and clear. Do we really need to do that? Over time we learn that we are called to bear the yoke ourselves and not place it on another. We can bear a little bit for one another. Don’t I love you enough to bear a little more? That’s really what strengthens the heart and the soul—being able to bear the brunt for another, because you can be assured that others are bearing the brunt for you too.
Sharing your bread with the hungry. Your good word can truly feed another, in person or through prayer.
Sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked. Don’t stare at the weaknesses of others and then tell them about it. Rather, clothe them with prayer and with your good will for them.
And don’t turn your back on your own. Help your neighbor; and I don’t mean only your neighbor. I knew a family who used to be so eager and ready to help their neighbors—mowing their lawn, weeding their yard—while the weeds in their own yard were six feet tall. So you can always look around your own house for little ways to help and serve your own, too. Let us strive to be a blessing for one another.
A reflection by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated every year on August 15
The meaning of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is that of culmination and a new beginning. With Our Lady’s assumption into heaven, the promises of the Lord were fulfilled for her and as always, beyond all expectation. I would have loved to have seen Mary’s face at her arrival into heaven. She saw her Son under the horror of the Cross; and I’m sure that never left her heart. But now she gets to see the glory of her Son and she shares in that. Remember that as she came to heaven, she was body and soul—she had an expression on her face. And that expression has never left her. The beauty of her Son seated on His throne…
The word “assumption” comes from the Latin word “assumere,” meaning, “to take to oneself.” Our Lord Jesus Christ took Mary home to Himself where He is. Now, on Mary’s part, it was the work of a lifetime of being watchful and ready to preserve the deifying light in her soul. In the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, we hear, “Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God.” Mary never took her eyes off of the light that comes from God, her Son. Further on in the Rule it says, “Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.” Well we could say that Mary ran the marathon of life and outran sin! She never stood around long enough for sin to “attach” itself to her. There was no selfishness in Mary for sin to cling to. And isn’t most sin about selfishness? And while we also remember that Mary is the sorrowful Mother, her sorrow was never about herself. Mary’s sorrows have only to do with anything that separates us from the love and life of Christ. It would be good for us to imitate Mary in knowing true sorrow instead of selfish sorrow.
There is a story, that perhaps you have heard, of a very holy woman who would serve God’s people during the day without ceasing to pray. She would go to bed late at night but would get up early every morning to continue to serve. And when she would get up in the morning, as soon as her feet hit the floor, hell shook and said, “Oh no, she’s up!” I pray that could be said for every one of us. But for that to happen, we have to live like Mary—attentive to the body of Christ, attentive to one another, attentive to everything that separates anybody from the love of Christ and His life.
Mary’s assumption did not mark the end of her service. On the contrary, her service could now assume its universal work. We read in Lumen Gentium that “taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving role, but by her manifold acts of intercession continues to win for us gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on…” And Mary cares for us. Let us do nothing that would grieve the immaculate heart of Mary. Let us live in her presence.
As we celebrate the Assumption let us make our house a place where Mary wants to dwell. That takes work and it takes love. Mary suffered, but she loved more than she suffered. Like Mary, we too have to pay more attention to what we love than to what we suffer.
“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
A reflection on the triumph of Love by Mother Maria-Michael Newe, OSB
I was thinking about the incredible words we sing during the Divine Office on the Feast of St. Andrew: “Seeing the cross [of his own martyrdom], Andrew cried out with joy, ‘O precious cross! Truly I have always loved you, and I have desired to embrace you.’”
This is a disciple who ran away in the garden of Gethsemane—he didn’t stand by Jesus on the cross—so the greatest gift that could be given to him was another chance to stand by the cross. What did he do with it? He embraced it. He longed for that moment to tell Christ, “I love you, and I want to be with you, wherever that leads.” This is the power of the triumph of the cross. Love is the triumph of the cross. When we love enough that we no longer fear the crosses in our lives but we embrace them and we long for them because they unite us with him who has loved us beyond all love, that is the triumph of the cross. So today we celebrate that we no longer fear the cross; it is truly the exaltation. Of course we cannot do this of ourselves. St. Andrew, St. Peter, none of them, could have embraced the cross on their own, but with divine strength they could embrace and kiss it. And their suffering turned into gratitude. Yes, when we can thank God for the crosses in our life, God has triumphed. When we can see that it is Love that has given us once again the chance to prove our love, we will rejoice and say, “Amen!” and run toward it, because we have a chance to prove our love. Let us pray today that the cross may triumph in our own lives, because it will not happen on our own. It is completely divine strength.
May this Easter season bring you much joy in the resurrection of Our Lord, who suffered his cross for the love of us, that we might have a sense of the depths of his love and desire to return our love for his.
Artwork by Sr. Ancilla Armijo, OSB
