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+ To hate evil is a virtue. St Paul places it in his list of marks of God’s grace in the epistle of this Holy Mass. The psalmist goes further: “I have hated them with a perfect hatred” he sings, and thus we sing, of those who hate God (Ps 138[9]:21-22). The perfect hatred, however, is not filled with an emotion and subjectivity, but rather a definite and concrete manner of dealing with such people in order that justice and charity can reign supreme. It is the only manner of either protecting society from the evils that threaten it or restoring the person who hates God to that charity in which he can flourish. That perfect hatred will thus never seek vengeance on the man, even if he must be stopped howsoever possible. Sin damages the one who commits it as the people around him.
Evil, nonetheless, is never far from our own person. Each and every sin is an evil act of greater or lesser extent. Yet how often we fall into sin, even just minor daily sin. The Apostle again says: “what I want to do I do not, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15). It is precisely that evil, which he hates, which is the sin, the act, which he hates yet does that he herein speaks. This is the first evil which we all must strive to overcome with everything we have, the help of the sacraments and the ministers of the Church. Whilst evil may ever be on our heels trying, by every means possible, to destroy all the good we can do, St Paul reminds us that grace is offered all the more strongly as sin pushes further (Romans 5:20)—not due to the sin, but as a gift in order that we might be fortified to overcome sin. Nevertheless, we must allow that grace to work in us and cooperate with that grace through whatever means are necessary. In the epistle the apostle is, however, not placing the emphasis on the grace to overcome our sin, but on that which drives us to do good. Whilst hatred of evil is needed to overcome our sin, it does not suffice simply to do good to those around us. Each of the graces that God gives us is given for a purpose. He has a mission which he wants us to accomplish. His usual manner of governing men is to choose a leader who can communicate to them His will and encourage them to follow it. Such a leader must take up all the arms that are available to him in establishing the reign of God in the world through the Church. Pope Leo spoke of this mission reflecting St Augustine’s work The City of God. He notes the difficulty that is imposed upon us by the fluidity and subjectivity that is infecting language such that the concepts that words “represent are increasingly ambiguous. … Moreover, in the contortions of semantic ambiguity, language is becoming more and more a weapon with which to deceive, or to strike and offend opponents. We need words once again to express distinct and clear realities unequivocally.” By undermining of the concept of reality, separating it from its anchor in the truth, he says, freedom of expression is losing its guarantee. “In an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, [modern language] ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it.” Reality is objective and our use of language must reflect that. We cannot reduce judgments to feelings, nor make our feelings governing principles. Rather a judgement must be made about a situation and how to deal with, or indeed, to interact with a person in the manner most apposite for the establishment of charity. A judgment is not dependent on the particular day on which it is made but the criteria which is presented to the person underlying the given occasion. By making sound judgments, moreover, we can well distinguish between good and evil and thereby aim for the one whilst rejecting the other absolutely. +  2026 has begun with the happy event of a new litter of our Maremma sheepdogs which were born today. Mother and puppies are doing well. L'année 2026 vient de commencer avec un heureux événement : la mise à bas aujourd'hui d'une nouvelle portée de chiots berger de la Maremme et des Abruzzes. La mère et les chiots se portent tous bien. (In due course the puppies will be available for purchase: please contact us to make reservations.) (Les chiots seront mis en vente en temps voulu : veuillez nous contacter pour d’éventuelles réservations.)   + As we know only too well, even the best of families has problems. Indeed, on this variously named first Sunday after the Epiphany, or the Sunday within its Octave where that is kept, we consider that famous incident in the Holy Family related by Saint Luke wherein Our Lord, as a young boy of twelve, becomes lost from his parents. Their distress is real, if perhaps somewhat understated in the Gospel. He was missing for days on end in times when travel and communication were laborious at best.
The anguish of which Our Blessed Lady complained was more than real as any parent—let alone a mother—can bear witness. A son who has gone missing for any period of time is a reality that pierces the heart and exhausts the mind. “Anguish” is, perhaps, only the beginning of what is felt. Distress and fear quickly add to the bitter cocktail that includes the questioning of one’s own responsibility. “How could I have allowed this to come about?” we castigate ourselves. “How naïve I have been to trust that he would be safe!” we fret. Of course, in the incident related in this morning’s Gospel Our Lord’s parents were not guilty of any such negligence. Their precocious twelve-year-old divine Son insists that He had to be about His heavenly Father’s business in the Temple and wonders why they could not understand this. This explanation—which in all truth sounds more like an impertinent rebuke for which a boy could deserve a good slap—was indeed “beyond their understanding” the Gospel tells us. For whilst twelve-year-olds were much ‘older,’ as it were, in ancient society than they are today, they are nonetheless boys under their parents’ authority with much yet to learn. The Gospel happily relates that the boy-Jesus ‘calmed down somewhat’ afterwards and went down to Nazareth and lived as a docile and obedient son, with Our Blessed Lady all the while remembering what had happened as only a mother does. This incident certainly teaches us much about the divine nature and mission of Jesus of Nazareth, and the Church appositely places it before us as we continue to contemplate the mysteries revealed in the feasts of Christmas and the Epiphany. The child Jesus, tiny in the manger, the infant taken to refuge in Egypt and the boy audaciously teaching in the Temple is God made man for our salvation as the many wonders that surrounded His birth and His growth in which the Sacred Liturgy immers us attest. And yet, the Eternal Son of God made man for our salvation is also truly human. He was born as is any man or woman. He grew up like any child. And, as this morning’s Gospel attests, He is capable of causing much distress in His human family even when, as it were, it was for the very best of motives. Such is family life, with the differing understandings and expectations and perspectives of its various members, and with all the anxiety they produce, most particularly when we are growing up. We are not necessarily talking about right or wrong or any sin here. Rather, we are talking about the reality that even children—and most certainly young adults—can have very different approaches to, and follow quite different yet legitimate paths from, those which their parents or other siblings may have foreseen. We are talking about the growth of that trust and of the maturing of love as the infant grows into a child and then emerges into young adulthood—of that love of which Our Blessed Lady kneeling in sorrow at the foot of the Cross of her Son, deeply sorrowing yet still full of faith, is perhaps the most powerful witness. Yes, even the Holy Family had its misunderstandings and knew profound suffering in this life. Yet their particular sufferings won us the grace to live in Christ—to deal with our own inadequacies and frailty and anxieties in that supernatural perspective which changes everything. Hence Saint Paul can insist to the ecclesial family in Colossia in this morning’s Epistle that they must “put on…compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Whatever problems our families have—be our family natural, extended, ecclesial, monastic, etc.—Saint Paul has much to teach us here. Soo to does the Holy Family. For it is true: the very best of families do have problems. But in Christ, they too can not only be overcome, and they can also become Providential moments of the ever more fruitful growth of the life and love of God in each of us. For the grace to be open to such workings of His Providence in our lives, let us beg Almighty God now at His altar. + + Healing the beggar at the door of the Temple was by no means a reason for St Peter to be arrested, yet this is the excuse made for so doing. Excuses are always easy to make for what we do, but ought not, or even ought not but nonetheless do. Looking at the reality of the act, however, is never easy. St Peter refuses to leave any lack of clarity: it is for the confession of Christ that he is being arrested. And he rejoices to have this new and greater opportunity to witness to the power of the name of Jesus Christ—the only name by which we can be saved.
Whilst the sacred liturgy presents the Holy name as given to Jesus at His circumcision according to the promise given to Abraham, it should not be separated from the name of the Holy Trinity in Whose threefold names we have been baptised. In calling upon the name of Jesus we are at once invoking the entire mystery of the Incarnation whereby God took unto Himself human nature in order to break the chains of sin. Only by accepting our weakness and incapacity to live alone in the freedom of virtue can we accept the healing which Christ offers us. The persecution of Christ continues. No unrepentant sinner can bear the sound of the name which has the power to cure him, and so will find any excuse to villainise that which comes from Christ so as to keep him away. But there is another method also heavily drawn upon to assure that the healing power of Christ is neutralised: the obfuscation of the fact that no other name can save us, neither from ourselves, nor unto eternal life. No other name allows the damage of sin to be addressed. For this is the power of calling on the name of Christ. In Christ we can confront our sin and be wiped clean. Through the confessional we can be brought to the renewed life of virtue which we are created to enjoy. Before the Incarnation of Christ, the Name of God, as given to Moses, was unspeakable due to its sanctity and the distance between God and man. Through the Incarnation, however, this gap was closed as God Himself accepted our nature. As He hung on the cross the notice above our Lord reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” spelt out the unspeakable name given to Moses and covered it with the divine title “Lord”. In Christ Jesus is the full name of God is revealed. Herein is the truth of that statement of St Peter that no other name can save. By calling upon the name of Jesus we are calling upon His entire person. The collect of this Mass draws out the connection between venerating the name and vision of Him in heaven, which we contemplate, and the reason for our creation by God. Yet this contemplation receives its greatest impetus from a close living of the rites of the Church—especially in the Mass and the Divine Office. Indeed, we are brought into this contemplation by God who has the power to transform our lowliness if we but allow Him. And before God there can be no excuses because He knows exactly what is in our heart. Whilst confessing the name of Christ may not be easy, it is what we are always required to do if we wish to be saved. + In solemnly singing the Te Deum after first Vespers in thanksgiving for all the graces we received in the year 2025
and in solemly invoking the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the new year by singing the Veni Creator after Mass this morning, we have included the intentions all our oblates, associates, family, friends and other benefactors. May the year of Our Lord 2026 bring an abundance of blessings! En chantant solennellement le Te Deum après les premières vêpres en action de grâce pour toutes les grâces reçues en l'année 2025 et en invoquant solennellement la guidance du Saint-Esprit pour la nouvelle année en chantant le Veni Creator après la messe ce matin, nous avons inclus les intentions de tous nos oblats, associés, familles, amis et autres bienfaiteurs. Que l'année de Notre Seigneur 2026 apporte une abondance de bénédictions !  + In continuing to celebrate the Christmas mystery during these eight days, we sing at first Vespers and again at Lauds of this Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, and yet again in the Introit of this Mass, the poignant antiphon “Dum medium silentium…”: Dum medium silentium tenerent omnia, et nox in suo cursu medium iter perageret, omnipotens Sermo tuus Domine a regalibus sedibus venit. Alleluia. “While all things keep watch in the midst of silence, Lord, and the night in its courses passes through the midpoint of its journey, your Almighty Word comes down from his royal throne. Alleluia.” This antiphon, which finds its origin in the Book of Wisdom (18:14-15), is instructive. For royalty rarely do things in silence or in the middle of the night. No: anything involving royalty usually involves much organisation, fanfare, pomp and ceremony, security, etc.—all in the plain light of day for all the world to see. That is how we would expect things. A ‘hidden’ royal arrival or visit would seem to make no sense. And yet the Eternal Son of God, the unique Saviour of all mankind, arrives in a stable in the middle of the night and is welcomed by, of all people, a group of shepherds. Only later do wise men arrive from the East, but even they are somewhat esoteric in their quest. One could rightly be forgiven for thinking that this ‘arrival’ was not well managed or marketed. Surely something more prominent and public was due, and indeed would have had a greater impact? If the Saviour’s birth had been more well known He would surely have had more followers? Quite possibly. But let us not fall into the trap of thinking as does the world. Rather, as we continue to ponder the Christmas mystery, let us free ourselves from the noise and sensationalism with which the world continually oppresses us so as to be able to enter more deeply into the silence of Christmas night, emptying ourselves of our preoccupations and ephemeral concerns so that there is space in our hearts, minds and souls to see and hear and encounter He who is born for our salvation on this night. Let us even step aside for some moments from those duties and activities that rightly concern us so as to be able to focus all the more clearly on the Christ-child born. For silence and calm are the necessary preconditions for understanding Who He is and why He has been born. Indeed, without such receptivity the events of Christmas can easily remain a sweet story pertaining to a Christian culture of the past—certainly something we can and to enjoy celebrating, but nothing particularly life-changing, as it were. We even find that secularists (be they believing or lapsed) will wish people “happy feasts” (or use some such other euphemistic expression) at this time of the year, acknowledging the lingering cultural reality but at all costs avoiding any mention of the Christ of God, let alone allowing any space for considering His nature or mission. Sadly, we see this in the banning of Christmas creches from many public spaces. The world, and so many of us, are far too busy to attend to the events of the middle of that silent night. The stillness and openness of mind, heart and soul that is necessary to see and to understand these events continues to escape us. Any yet, if we can but escape the frenetic activity and the unending noise in which the world cages us, if we can stay awake into the night and be still, we too can come to that which the shepherds went to find, to He Whom the wise men sought: nothing less than Almighty God made man for our salvation. Of course, this assumes that we accept that God is; it assumes that we understand that we are in need of salvation from our sins—silent realities which the noise of the world assiduously strives to drown out, but to which the Christ-child bears more and more powerful witness as he grows and becomes strong, teaching, healing, raising people from the dead and indeed rising from the dead Himself after suffering a most brutal and unjust execution. My brothers and sisters, in the midst of our celebration of Christmas let us make the time silently to ponder who this child is and why he has been born. Whether we are people who practice the Catholic faith or not, or even if these questions have never seemed important to us, the reality of Christmas demands us so to do. And it does so for our own good. God did not become man in order Himself to have an interesting experience! He became man and taught and suffered and died and rose from the dead so that we might have the opportunity to find forgiveness for our sins and to live with Him forever. Nothing less. And whether we believe or not, no matter how deeply we are consumed by the cacophonic concerns of the world, these eternal realities are just that: eternal realities that each one of us must eventually face. Let us wake up then and keep watch in the night and welcome the Almighty Word of God who comes down from his royal throne to us anew this Christmas. For in so doing lies nothing less than our salvation and the salvation of all men and women. And let each of us be found equal to the demands inherent in this eternally consoling truth. +  On behalf of the entire monastic community, I take this opportunity to wish you and all your loved ones a truly happy and holy feast of Christmas! In celebrating this great feast as worthily as we can we are acutely conscious that we can only do so because of the support of so many people throughout the world—our oblates and associates, our family and friends and other benefactors, as well of that given by those who have already gone before in the hope of enjoying the eternal feast. Midnight Mass is offered for all of your and their intentions. + It’s Christmas again. I am sure that we all have different aspects of this feast that warm our hearts and bring us fond memories—the carols and chants, the food, time spent with family and friends. So too, there may well be elements of the feast’s celebration that, to put it politely, fatigue us before the feast even begins—a ‘quiet’ Christmas can sometimes seem far more attractive than a festive one, with all that the festivities sometimes entail. Yet throughout the world, the feast of Christmas, which is ancient in itself, but which gained prominence only from the 9th century onward, has become the primary Christian feast in respect of popularity, customs and devotion—eclipsing the more ancient and important feasts of Easter, Pentecost and indeed the Epiphany. We invest in Christmas in ways we do not for other times of the year—it’s part of our cultural DNA in a way that other feasts are not. We can argue that Easter is the feast of feasts, and rightly so, but it just isn’t Christmas! And so, here we are: Christmas 2025. What are we to make of it, be out hearts full of joy or be they braced to endure the day to come? I would like to ponder a little the reality of mystery of Christmas—of the eternal Son of God becoming a man like us—for, I suggest, if amidst the cultural and familial customs that surround this feast, we stand firm on the rock of its fundamental reality, we can all the more rejoice, and indeed convert our endurance into true joy. This reality is spoken of in the ‘Secret’ prayer at Midnight Mass, which calls it a “sacrosancta commercia”—a most holy exchange, praying that through the event of the Incarnation in which human nature is assumed by (and thus, united to) God, we humans may become more like God. That is to say, by God the Son being born of the Virgin Mary, a bridge has been built between God and man, enabling us all the more easily to access God. This is the most holy exchange of which the Secret prayer speaks—our newly-given ability to access God directly in the person of His Incarnate Son, just as did all those who encountered Him during His public Ministry, and just as do we when we encounter Him living and acting in His Church today, most especially in the rites of the Sacred Liturgy and above all in the seven sacraments. This is the mystery recalled in word and action in every Mass when the priest adds a drop of water to the wine in the chalice at the offertory, praying: “O God, Who in creating man didst exalt his nature very wonderfully and yet more wonderfully didst establish it anew: by the mystery signified in the mingling of this water and wine, grant us to have part in the Godhead of Him Who hath vouchsafed to share our manhood, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord…” For, my brothers and sisters, thanks to the reality of the Incarnation, thanks to the first Christmas, we can share in the divine nature of God! By our Baptism the gates of the bridge between God and man are opened wide to us so that we can share in, and live from, that most holy exchange. The door to the forgiveness of our sins and to eternal life is opened to us. Our Salvation has, as it were, come in person to meet us more than half-way! This is most certainly a reason to celebrate and to sing and to feast, for it is the ultimate gift—a gift which we of ourselves could neither merit nor purchase. It is freely offered to us out of the eternal love that created each one of us out of nothing and which brought us into being so that we can love and serve Almighty God in this life, and rejoice with Him forever in the next. For this we rightly give thanks! Yet, this gift is offered: it is not forced upon us. We are capable of rejecting it—as we know only too well. Christmas day is not the day for a sermon on sin and hell and damnation, but it is a day on which each of us should ponder ever more deeply the great gift we have been given in this most holy exchange and, in pondering it, we should not only find the motivation to rejoice and give thanks to God, but also find therein the motivation to be authentic and powerful missionaries of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, incarnate on this day for our salvation and the salvation of all mankind. That this truth is not believed by many, or is even rejected, calls each of us to a purer and more powerful witness, so that, as the Gradual of the Mass of Christmas day sings, all the ends of the earth shall come to see the Salvation of God! To that end may Christmas 2025 strengthen each of us to be efficacious witnesses to the truth we celebrate! +  Having sung solemn first Vespers of Christmas, the monastic community wishes each and every one of our oblates, associates, family, friends and benefactors all the blessings of this great feast!
Après avoir chanté les premières vêpres solennelles de Noël, la communauté monastique souhaite à chacun de nos oblats, associés, familles, amis et bienfaiteurs toutes les bénédictions de cette grande fête ! In celebrating this feast as worthily as we can, we are acutely conscious that we can only do so because of the support of so many people throughout the world—those living and those who have already gone before in the hope of enjoying the eternal feast. Midnight Mass shall be offered for all of their intentions. En célébrant cette fête comme il se doit, nous sommes pleinement conscients que nous ne pouvons le faire que grâce au soutien de tant de personnes à travers le monde, celles qui sont encore en vie et celles qui nous ont déjà quittés dans l'espoir de profiter du festin éternel. La messe de minuit sera célébrée pour toutes leurs intentions.  + Everything in the epistle of this holy Mass follows from the Apostle’s admonition that we should be ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God. We must therefore know what exactly is contained in this exhortation. To be a minister of Christ is to fulfil that which He needs doing in a particular moment. It is a recognition that “in doing this to the little ones you do it to [Him]” (Matt. 25:45). Whilst this is most visible in the corporal acts of mercy, the spiritual acts of mercy have a higher dignity as bringing the recipient directly towards Christ as well as the giver.
Bringing forth the mysteries of God, which are by their very nature beyond the comprehension of finite man, is therefore at the heart of this Apostolic saying. This is far from denying that we never ought to deepen our understanding of the nature and will of God, but rather that we must allow Him to take charge of us. We must break, through His grace, the chains of sin which fasten us to the vanities of the world. If Christ Who is God could say that He came not to do His own will but the will of the one Who sent Him (John 6:38), how much more does that apply to us who were not sent, but individually and uniquely created by Him. Ministers of Christ, furthermore, cannot recreate things according to their own desire, nor can they change that which has been handed on to them. Whilst it is not impossible that new material will be found within that which we have received, that which is new is found—as in an old chest. It is merely brought to light under divine inspiration, so that the wise man can bring forth treasures new and old (Matt. 13:52). This is still nothing more than passing on what is received, yet ever should we earnestly seek to assure the brilliance of the treasure is retained, even refreshed. How can we confess with St Augustine of the “ever ancient ever new” (Confessions book X) awareness of Christ if we allow the treasure of His Truth to be tarnished with cliché or lack of clarity? Words, nonetheless, are not enough. To live a lifestyle which is not in conformity to the Gospel, which we are required on to preach, will inevitably push people away from a seemingly hypocritical mission. Despite our best efforts our sinful condition often drives us to fall away from the pristine practice of virtue. Ever must we renew our conversion from the world the flesh and the devil to find Christ ever more faithfully. St Benedict himself speaks of this zeal to turn to God, urging the abbot that being “anxious regarding the account which will have to be given for others, he is made solicitous for his own sake also; and while by his admonition helping others to amend, he himself is cleansed of his faults” (RB 2). Unquestionably, most of us do not have the same responsibility over the souls of others as does an abbot, yet we can nonetheless, in giving counsel to another, use that same counsel to be cleansed of our own faults. The two need not be distinguished. The monastic and desert tradition are filled with examples of a monk doing penance on behalf of his confrere, taking up another’s fault as his own, that he might return to Christ and be converted from his sin. This is the will of God: that we might come to Him and bring our neighbour with us by whatever means are necessary and possible whilst avoiding sin. Christ became man to destroy the power of sin and death, so likewise His ministers must participate in that same war against the power of the devil. + |
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