SSJE Sermons

"It is hard to hear above the din and noise of the world, whose voices call us, especially these days, to be afraid, to be angry, to be jealous, to be selfish. But when we hear the voice of love calling us, challenging us, prodding us to greater and more unselfish love, then we can be certain that it is the voice of the Good Shepherd who calls. Our job as followers of Jesus is to learn to hear his voice."

In this sermon on discernment, Br. Jim Woodrum reflects on the experience of hearing and beginning a monastic vocation. He encourages all those who find themselves in the dark about where Jesus is leading them to simply take "the next best step." "He is present with you amidst the bewildering confusion and suffering."

How has Jesus been made known to you in your past – in time of feasting as well as in times of famine? Br. David Vryhof encourages us, "Draw on that memory, and the memory of God’s presence in the past to inform your faith as you walk into the future, that you may be assured of God’s love and care for you, and may proceed with hope and with confidence."

In all the uncertainty of our current moment, we may need to make Thomas’ request to Jesus our own prayer: "Show me the marks and let me touch them and I will believe."

On Good Friday, Br. Nicholas Bartoli invites us to enter into the paschal mystery as it unfolds for us now, letting our fear be buried with Jesus, to rise with him in new life.

By washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus does not diminish his authority. Rather, he shows them a new way of exercising authority, a new way of being with others that is characterized by humility, compassion and loving service. Br. David Vryhof invites us, and the Church, to follow in these radical footsteps.

Br. Keith Nelson invites us to the experience of Holy Week as a time of vulnerability, allowing ourselves to experience the paradoxical binaries at the heart of the Gospel and our own lives: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain. But if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.”

In this world gone crazy, Br. James Koester unfolds the kind of life we are called to live, the kind of witness we are called to give, indeed the kind of martyrdom to which we are pledged by our baptisms: the witness of a love which is prepared to lay down its life for another.

Reading the story of Lazarus, Br. James Koester uncovers the shortest verse in the Bible and the dream of God: that we might have life in abundance. Jesus weeps today, because many of his friends live entombed by grief, despair, hopelessness, and disappointment. He asks, "What tomb are you living in today?"

In this sermon from the radical practices series, Br. Luke Ditewig declares that hospitality, the welcoming of strangers, is not about entertaining. It is about saving lives, for our journeys are challenging and we need each other.