Author Archives: monks4christ

Ash this Wednesday

the Morning Star

We possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts.

You have tasted that the Lord is good.* Come to him, a living stone,*.. chosen and precious in the sight of God and like living stones, let yourselves be built* into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2nd Letter of Peter

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Rest in the Lord

Rest in the Lord for he is your refuge

Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.

Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.

Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For this fountain is God himself.

Saint Ambrose

Trinity w Mary & John the Baptist
icon by Gallery Zograf Nadia



1st Annual Josephology Symposium . March 20

Symposium Speakers

Rev. Boniface Hicks, OSB

“St. Joseph presides over this intentional surrender to childlike obedience [which] takes place in St. Teresa’s fourth mansion [and] Joseph holds the lantern for us that can help us navigate this night,” explains former atheist, Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB, author of Through the Heart of St. Joseph and spiritual director. His talk will unveil how Joseph is a “secret weapon” of the spiritual life who can “increase” our spiritual wisdom and pace up the holy mountain.

Rev. Edward Looney

The Founder of JSI will give the Inaugural Address, giving us a thumbnail sketch of JSI’s hope and dreams, its inception, mission, goals, and an overview of the symposium’s theme and speakers.

Dr. Robert Fastiggi

This talk will explore Joseph’s role in God’s plan of Redemption, the requisite special graces he was given, his unique proximity to the order of the hypostatic union, such that, as Mary, the virgin God-bearer, can be called Coredemptrix because of her maternal cooperation with the Redeemer, is it possible to call Joseph, the virgin God-raiser, a Coredemptor due to his paternal cooperation with the Redeemer?

Dr. Christopher West

If Theology of the Body is a theological time-bomb set to explode in our millennium, then St. Joseph is its fuse! Dr. Christopher West, a spark-plug speaker and author himself, will ignite your understanding on Joseph’s manly purity and total gift of self in this dynamite talk steeped in the mind of John Paul II.

Dr. Elizabeth Lev

Art historian Dr. Elizabeth Lev, based in Rome, will provide a visual tour de force of Josephological art from the 200s AD up to present day, exploring how Joseph is “a beacon” today for godly fatherhood, masculinity, and chastity as she writes in her book Silent Knight.

Free Registration

Online Event

March 20, 2025

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