“Where we see truth, honor, purity, we see the glory of God, and when we behold God’s glory, especially in another person, we are brought to our knees in praise.” Br. James Koester invites us into the evocative phrase from the letter to the Epehsians: "the praise of his glory."

“These are not happy times, but we can still know joy, because it is a gift from God. We can’t create joy, we can only receive it, and delight in it. Joy is elusive. We can’t grasp it, or hold it, or contain it, or store it up. If we try to, it vanishes.” On the Feast of Saint Francis amid such troubled times, Br. Geoffrey Tristram invites us to open our hearts to joy.

“Our prayer and actions of gratitude, even offered in isolation, bring us together as a living sacrament of Christ for the sake of one another and of the world. Through the giving of thanks in all things, we together partake of Jesus Christ, the Bread of Heaven, at his table set in our hearts.”

Though we live in a time of individual and corporate pain and loss, Br. Jonathan Maury points us toward our fundamental Christian identity as a eucharistic people, people of thanksgiving.

“The nearer I draw to God, the more it becomes clear I really have no idea who I’m dealing with. The personality I encounter overflows and shatters every image or picture I could ever imagine.” Br. Sean Glenn urges us to set aside our images and pictures of God and encounter the living God whose love upholds every moment.

“Like the People of Israel, we find ourselves in a wilderness. The landscape at the moment seems especially dry and particularly barren. We are hungry. We are thirsty. Yes, perhaps we are not about to die, but none the less we are longing, and like the Israelites, we look back towards Egypt and long to return. How many of us have not longed to return to what once was?” Br. James Koester reminds us that we are united, in our longing, to God's people from time immemorial – and to one another in this dry and thirsty time.

“It is Paul’s moments of utter vulnerability that I most cherish, the sure signs of God’s strength made perfect in Paul’s weakness that point to the immensity of God’s longsuffering Love. The vulnerable Paul reminds me of the vulnerable me.” Br. Keith Nelson reaches through the longing and the lack of our current moment, to find blessing even in the vulnerability of our connections to one another.

“Sean, the circle of your Brothers here has been waiting patiently for you for a long time, ignoring your doubts, your past, your arguments, your objections, we have been holding open for you a place in the circle of this community. All you need to do is walk into it and take your place.” Br. James Koester welcomes Br. Sean Glenn into the circle of his Brothers' love on the joyful occasion of Sean's Profession in Initial Vows.

“ The essence of God is not vengeance, but rather justice. When we think of justice, we are tempted to think in terms of retribution for a crime committed. However, justice is more comprehensive in that it also involves restoration.” Br. Jim Woodrum marvels at how forgiveness reveals to us not only God’s essential nature, but also our own as creatures made in God’s image and likeness.

“In the spiritual dance that draws us into God’s love, we take steps forward and back. Sometimes one of our branches may be yielding good fruit while another is withered and spent as it drifts away from the true vine.” Br. Todd Blackham invites us to consider how our growth relates to that of our neighbors, and how God’s careful pruning hand tends to us all together.

“To be clearsighted about ourselves, is to be aware of our own shortcomings, limitations, and challenges. But it also means to be aware of our own gifts and talents. Real humility is not about humiliation. Rather it is about knowing ourselves as God knows us: imperfect creatures, whom God loves.” Br. James Koester invites us to see ourselves as God sees us.