The Fellowship of St. Columbanus

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 II Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 St. Mark 5:21-43 Death is not our natural end, according to the Wisdom of Solomon. It is a ruinous consequence of the separation brought between us and God our Maker. He states emphatically, "God did not make death." (Wis. 1:13) Death is a deviation, a corruption of the Created order. Christ Pantochrator Sixth Century So when the Creator descended into His creation, it is no wonder that He came with life in his very touch. The prophet Malachi anticipated the incarnation powerfully, "For you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings." God did not make death, but made all things to persist. So Christ comes as "the Resurrection and the Life," and even the fringe of his robe brings healing to the wounds of the world. This restoration, this renewal of Creation by the entrance of Life itself, of Truth itself, into the fabric of the fallen world, brings with i...

II Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 St. Matthew 16:13-19 "As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. "As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have longed for his appearing." (II Tim. 4:5-8, NRSVae) Saint Paul thus looks forward to his death as a kind of sacrifice, a libation offering to God in the pouring out of his blood on the bloody streets of Rome. This is the culmination of his life, lived as he advises Timothy to live: sober, suffering, and doing the work of an evangelist. This life, even in being poured out, is poured out as an offering to God, and so receives the crown of righteousness. The martyrdom of Sts...

Isaiah 49:1-6 Acts 13:22-26 St. Luke 1:57-66, 80 A name is more than that by which we are called. There has always been within the name a kind of magic and romance. In America, where I am from, I have always considered it the most beautiful image to talk of a young man or woman as going out into the world, “to make a name for themselves.” In other words, to earn a reputation. We now speak with a kind of reverence the names of those who have changed the course of history: Plato, Augustine, Einstein; we remember the names of those who have impacted us: personally, culturally, and throughout time. The Naming of John the Baptist Fra Angelico, circa 1435 In the time of Christ, as well as at other times, this importance of a person’s name was not only a matter of reputation and remembering. Within a name is expressed a person’s culture, identity, people, and place of belonging. We can hear this very point in the words of Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives: “there is no ...

Ezekiel 17:22-24 Psalm 92 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 Mark 4:26-34 St Anne conceiving the Blessed Virgin Jean Bellagarme the Elder If I were going to tell a Kingdom of God parable that might follow the ones from our Gospel reading, I know now that it would be about pregnancy. The point of the first parable seems to be that the Kingdom grows of its own accord, while the man who plants "knows not how" (Mk 4:27). The point of the second seems to be that the enormous Kingdom life can grow from the smallest bits of Kingdom faith. Both of these ideas are incredibly familiar to me at the moment, having spent some time thinking and worrying about the little boy growing inside of me. The act of growing a child seems like one of the most significant, productive, creative things I might ever do in my life, and yet I am nearly powerless in the process. Apart from keeping myself healthy, I have almost no control over how this little person grows. And yet I've spent a good deal of ti...

Genesis 3:9-15 Psalm 130 II Corinthians 4:13-5:1 St. Mark 3:20-35 This week's lections include some of my favorite texts of Scripture. Our first lesson deals with the Fall of Mankind, drawing special attention to the fact that after eating of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve's eyes were opened and they clothed themselves, having realized that they were naked. God then asks pointedly, "Who told you that you were naked?" The Fall of Man Jordaens, 17th century This text has proven confusing throughout the history of biblical interpretation. Everyone from Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon in Guide for the Perplexed to C.S. Lewis in Peralandra has wrestled with it. Why is a wisdom which seems so worthy forbidden, and why is our first reaction after gaining it to clothe ourselves? David Cotter, OSB, solves the first problem, pointing out that "good and evil" is a pair like "old and young," or "high and low," a pair of opposites that we us...

" Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps because I am afraid, and he gives me courage." J.R.R. Tolkien It has been a hectic couple of weeks for the Fellowship, and, unfortunately, we missed posting on Corpus Christi and the Visitation in the scramble. So I will try to make up for our omission here. First, we had a successful and encouraging meeting with a couple who are starting a community in eastern Kentucky. Bishop Stowe put us in contact with them for support and advice, and they were very encouraging and helpful. The Angelus Jean-Francois Millet, 1859. We have also reached out to Movimiento Apostolico Manequehue, a community of Benedictine oblates who focus on education, based in Santiago, Chile. They have been extremely welcoming and encouraging and we ar...

It is the fundamental error of the modern hedonist to believe that man can abandon moral effort and throw off every repression and spiritual discipline and yet preserve all the achievements of culture. It is the lesson of history that the higher the achievement of a culture the greater is the moral effort and the stricter is the social discipline that it demands . Christopher Dawson, “ Christianity and Sex ”. It is undeniable that we are going through times of cultural decline, times when the public enactment of our culture and civilisation is beset by confusion, contradiction and conflict. This is nothing new – all civilisations go through periods of confusion, crippling self-doubt and weakness. What we call our civilisation and our culture are, in fact, nothing but the secularised continuation of what was once, at all levels of society, the purposeful pursuit of a common vision.   Certainly, there was dissent, confusion and contradiction, but these were relegated to the m...