26 August 2020

Homilies

Homily for St. Bartholomew, 24 August 2020; Silver Jubilee of Ordination

26 August 2020

Homilies

God the Holy Trinity is perfectly blessed in Himself. He is an infinity of subsistent being, needing nothing whatever outside himself. God the Father eternally begets God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from Father and…

Pluscarden Abbey

26 August 2020

News & Events, Homilies

Silver Jubilee of Profession of Fr. Martin Birrell

Pluscarden Abbey

26 August 2020

News & Events, Homilies

On Sunday 16 August 2020, the transferred Feast of the Assumption, Dom Martin Birrell joyfully celebrated the Silver Jubilee of his monastic vows. Especially in view of his role as Oblate Master, there were numerous oblates and friends of the community…

Pluscarden Abbey

11 August 2020

Homilies

Homily for 9 August 2020, Sunday 19A: Matthew 14:22-33

Pluscarden Abbey

11 August 2020

Homilies

The psalms are full of this imagery of desperation in deep water. To the Hebrew mind, water was a natural image of anything dreadful, terrifying, destructive. The sea especially for them was a reminder of the…

Pluscarden Abbey

4 August 2020

Homilies

Brief Homily for the 8 o’clock Mass, 2 August 2020, Sunday 18A, Matthew 14:13-21

Pluscarden Abbey

4 August 2020

Homilies

During the First World War, the Government of the Ottoman Empire decided that it was necessary for the Armenian nation to be wiped out. So they initiated a genocide. One of the ways this was carried out was by driving people - men, women and…

Pluscarden Abbey

28 July 2020

Homilies

Homily for Sunday 17A, 26 July 2020, Romans 8:28-30

Pluscarden Abbey

28 July 2020

Homilies

Of all St. Paul’s Letters, Romans is the longest, richest, densest, most difficult, most rewarding, most challenging, most perplexing, most commented on, most thoroughly Jewish, most obscurely Rabbinical, most radically universal in its all-embracing…

Pluscarden Abbey

13 July 2020

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of St. Benedict, 11 July 2020

Pluscarden Abbey

13 July 2020

Homilies

I recall when I first saw this text from the Holy Rule: I thought it rather odd. The Abbot holds the place of Christ, because he is called by Christ’s name, when we address him as Father. Well: I’d never thought of calling Christ Father, or of…

Pluscarden Abbey

29 June 2020

Homilies

Homily for the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, 28 June 2020: Matthew 16:13-19

Pluscarden Abbey

29 June 2020

Homilies

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, according to St. Matthew, Jesus speaks of a wise man who built his house on rock. Rain came, floods rose, gales blew, and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall (7:25). Now today we hear him speaking of…

Pluscarden Abbey

25 June 2020

Homilies

Homily for the Solemnity of St. John the Baptist - Patronal Feast of Pluscarden

Pluscarden Abbey

25 June 2020

Homilies

The joy of Elizabeth and Zechariah spread: to their whole family, then their whole village, and then the whole world. This joy continues on, even 2000 years later, and we share in it especially today. We joyfully celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist, because it’s inextricably…