“The way that Mary invites us to walk, is not an easy one. It involves towel, basin, and water. It requires us to bend, and to stoop, and to kneel. It involves cross and nails, thorns and spear. It requires us to die. It involves tomb, and grave clothes. It requires us to lay everything aside, even our own lives. But for those who follow, it is life, and peace, and joy.” Here on the threshold of Holy Week, Br. James Koester invites us to follow, to bend and stoop, and kneel, like Mary.

“Many of us have troubles with calling God our “Father.” What may be helpful or hopeful for you in this portrait from Jesus? How does this story help you see God? ” By digging into the resonances of its Middle Eastern cultural context, Br. Luke Ditewig uncovers the deep meaning of the story of the Prodigal Son.

“We live in a particularly noisy world. We seem today to confront a kind of cacophony that is unique and acute. Even in the silences of our homes, the noise of the world calls to us from printed page and digital screen, hungry for our attention. All the more difficult it can be to hear the voice of God in our lives.” Br. Sean Glenn considers how hearing is the obedience that empowers us to respond in love.

“I suspect we would all like to think that if God were to call us to some special task we would respond as Mary did, saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord…” But we know that we are also capable of turning away, of delaying our answer, of looking for a way out. Sometimes, if the truth be told, the call is, well, daunting, and we just don’t see how we can do it.” Br. David Vryhof encourages us to embrace the call of God as Mary did, with a yes, and with an awareness that God not only calls us, but empowers us.

“Sheep may know they are lost, but they are certainly not repentant. Lost coins are completely clueless. And yet, when either is found, there is rejoicing.” Br. Curtis Almquist finds lessons in reconciliation in Jesus' parables.

“Each time we receive God into ourselves from this cup, we say yes– we say yes to the one who sensitizes our conscience, the one who sharpens our spiritual senses, and the one who turns up the light – and the heat – in our soul.” Br. Keith Nelson considers what happens when we sip from the cup of Truth.

“In the face of all that confronts us as lost, dead, barren, or forsaken—in the world outside and in the universe within our hearts—God bids us change our perspective.” Br. Sean Glenn looks to Abram for evidence of how God invites us to hold the impossible in our hearts and know it is drenched in God’s purpose and love.

“What if I ask, and my request is denied – or even worse, met with a deafening silence? What if I search and I come up empty-handed, exhausted and looking like an idiot for investing myself in such a lost cause? What if I knock until my knuckles bleed and the door doesn’t budge? Then where will I be?” Br. Keith Nelson considers the vulnerability of prayer and concludes that God always responds to prayer.

“I am the guy who gives up craft beer for Lent and by week two I have succumbed to the desert heat and am quenching my thirst with a cold, refreshing IPA straight from the devil’s hand! In my frustration and disappointment with myself, I try to make myself feel better by thinking of something I can give up the next year where I might actually have success, like perhaps, asparagus. Nothing banishes temptation quite like asparagus.” Br. Jim Woodrum considers Lenten disciplines and discovers – with some help from the Desert Fathers – how temptation can actually be a tool to help us to better know ourselves and draw near to God.

“The transfiguration isn’t just some story about who Jesus is, it’s also a story about who we are as God’s beloved. It is a story about the ways in which God reveals OUR glory for all the world to see. It is a story about us and our relationship to the Father. It is a story about where we have come from, and where we are going.” Br. James Koester marvels at the amazing truth (if not the historical factuality) of the stories of Scripture.