• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Donate Now
  • Home
  • About Us
    • History
    • Being Benedictine
    • Benedictine Monasticism
    • Meet Our Community
    • Holy Name Academy-Alumnae
  • What We Do
    • Mission, Vision and Our Partners
    • Retreats
      • Invitation to Retreat
      • Accommodations
    • Volunteer Programs
    • Oblate Program
    • Spiritual Direction
    • Aqua/Hydroponics
    • More of Our Ministries
  • What’s Happening
    • Articles of Interest
    • Events
    • Commemorative Bricks
    • Newsletters
    • Brochures
    • Links
  • Support Us
    • Gifts of Support
    • Wish List
  • Stories Shared
  • Galleries
    • Photos
    • Videos
      • Benedictine Sisters of FL Videos
      • Other Videos
  • Contact Us

Pharisees

“The Sufficiency of My Merit is to Know That My Merit is not Sufficient” ~ St. Augustine

September 2, 2024 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

In this Gospel, Mark provides a significant amount of information about the Jewish observance of the laws ritual purity, perhaps to educate the Gentile Christians in his audience who would have had little or no experience with these laws. Well, we’re not among those uneducated, are we?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for making ritual purity equal to and as binding as the Law of Moses.  He teaches that we are not defiled by the food that enters our bodies but the words that spew out our mouths.  Such defilement could also be the shrug of the shoulders and leaving the room with another’s question hanging in dead air.  Jesus unmasks a deeper question behind the one posed by the Pharisees: Where is holiness found?  What makes a “holy person”?  By itself it’s not eyes cast heavenward or cast to the ground or beating your chest like the Publican.  It’s not found in how we hold our hands to pray or kneeling for Communion or fasting until we faint.  Nor it is wearing a veil or a habit or a chapel veil.   Outward appearances don’t qualify one for sainthood.  Jesus makes it clear holiness comes from within.  It is evidenced in our deportment, our words, our attitudes, our interactions with each other and our care for God’s creation.  Examples are watering a plant, carefully relocating a lizard to the outdoors, moving chairs quietly, gently placing objects against what could be a noisy surface, or ensuring that doors don’t slam closed.  It’s kindness to our neighbor in the next room or down the hall; the sick, the newcomer, the guest, an annoying child.  The evangelist John was not the first, or the last, to say: “Actions speak louder than words.”  The words at the conclusion of today’s Gospel challenge us to guard against trying to merely look holy.

Jesus reminds us that we become holy when we allow God’s Spirit to transform us. Our actions and our words are a reflection of our “spiritual diet and digestive track”.  Our bodies reject tainted food in often dramatic and hurtful ways, through IBS and spastic colon.  In the same way, our consumption of bias, violence, snide remarks and crude language from the company we keep, our reading material or TV viewing is an abuse our spiritual digestive track cannot tolerate.  It is ejected onto others, into our environment by way of our own mouths.  But our spiritual diet can overcome those symptoms.  We can absorb positive, helpful attitudes in prayer, with daily, deliberate practice, lectio, and interactions with Christ-like persons.  We mature and radiate an expression of the conversion of our hearts.

It is worthy of our time and effort to perk up and listen to the Gospel message: “Hear me, all of you, and understand.  You disregard God’s commandments but cling to human tradition.”  It seems to me, Jesus’ underlying message to us, individually and communally, in this day and place, concerns teaching “human precepts” as “divine doctrine”.  It can be a great temptation for many to elevate personal wishes to the “right way” of doing things.  “I’m telling you: my way is the right way!” There is rarely only one right way in everyday matters.

The list of things that were once acceptable that today we shutter to see or hear about grows almost daily.  Airplane passengers used to able to view the plane’s cockpit from their seats, a cloth  towel hung near the kitchen sink to dry, or someone having one-sided conversations with a plug in their ear are a few examples.  Open dinner buffets were more popular and you didn’t get “pinged” to view 100 photos of my day in the park or of a tired toddler  up past his bedtime.  Even the “Queen of Manners” Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt have changed their minds about the “right way” to eat fried chicken.

Ponder in the week ahead Jesus’ reminder to the crowd.  Pray that it may not be said of us: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

Enjoy your holiday weekend …

  God keep you safe

 

Lord on this Labor Day,
we thank You for the blessing of work.
We ask for strength to complete each day.
We ask for rest when we are weary.
We ask Your guidance
for everyone seeking employment,
and we ask that
You be with those whose faces
we might never see
but who work tirelessly each day
for the good of us all.   Amen.

– from Our Sunday Visitor

 

 

First Reading:   Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8         Second Reading:  James 1:17-18,21b-22,27
Gospel:   Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: Christians, God, Jesus, Jewish, John, Labor Day, Mark, Pharisees

Service, not status, is the measure of a true Christian

November 6, 2023 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

In this Gospel we see Jesus under fire.  In turn, He speaks sternly to the religious leaders of Israel accusing the scribes and Pharisees of seeking the glory that rightly belongs to God.  In their misguided zeal for religion, they sought respect and honor for themselves rather than for God.

Jesus raises three objections.  They do not practice what they preach, they adopt a very narrow and burdensome interpretation of the Torah, and they seek public acknowledgment of their presumed spiritual superiority.  Instead of allowing any relaxation, they “built a fence around the Law.”  They fail to realize the truth that when religion becomes a depressing affair of burdens and prohibitions, individualistic dictums or endless rote prayers it ceases to be true religion.  Jesus condemns the lack of compassion of religious leaders, evidenced in their unwillingness to apply laws in a way that would make obedience less oppressive.  By contrast, Jesus says: “My yoke is easy; my burden is light and I will give you rest.”

The Pharisees Jesus is speaking to liked to be seated in places of privilege, prized seats on the left and right of their host.  You remember the request posed by the mother of James and John?  “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”

The Pharisees preferred to be addressed as “Rabbi.”  They liked to be called “Father”, to be known as the fathers of the faith.  They overlooked that respect has to be earned.  However, in spite of their personal failings, Jesus recognizes that the scribes and Pharisees are stewards of a great spiritual treasure.  He teaches respect for them for their role as official teachers and interpreters of the Torah.  Jesus demands that his disciples honor the office that these men occupy and to do what they teach, at least insofar as their teachings accord with the Torah.  Jesus taught, honored and applied two principles: reverence and respect i.e. reverence for God, the name of God and God’s due.  Jesus modeled respect for one’s parents and for a person’s life, the other’s possessions, and good name, lessons sadly lacking in many segments of our society today.

Jesus’ criticism was mainly a warning to future Christian leaders about possible abuses of authority in their ministry.  His words are a strong invitation and challenge to render humble, loving service without expecting honor or rewards.  Benedict echoes this attitude in The Rule in the opening lines of Chapter 7 on humility recalling the words of Scripture: “Whoever exalts themselves shall be humbled, and whoever humbles themselves shall be exalted.”  Jesus and Benedict remind us that service, not status, is the measure of a true Christian.  It’s not how many servants we have, but how many persons we serve.  

In today’s society where smear campaigning and negative comparative advertising are rampant, it is easy to unconsciously assimilate this style of language and attitude as acceptable.  Jesus may not have used these words but remember what you learned as a child: “When you point one finger at someone else, you have three fingers pointing back at yourself.”  Beware of being the “pot” calling the “kettle” black.  The Gospel message reminds us that whatever we are and have is not simply a birthright, but a gift given to us by our loving God.  Hence, let us use everything we are and have for the greater honor and glory of God.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Have a good week.

 

 

First Reading:   Malachi 1:14- 2:2, 8-10         Second Reading:  James 2:14-18
Gospel:   Matthew 23:1-12
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: Christian, God, Jesus, My yoke is easy and my burden is light, Pharisees, respect

Give to Caesar – Give to God

October 23, 2023 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

Today’s Gospel is built around the saying in verse 21, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” It is a “wisdom saying” and the passage invites us to enter into it with our feelings.

We would not be able to properly grasp the meaning of this sentence without bearing in mind the context in which Jesus said it. Often, it is said that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” In other words, two people who are enemies will often come together if they see an opportunity to jointly attack a greater enemy. This is what was happening in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees were strict observers of the Law of Moses. It was their view that the people should not pay taxes. The Herodians on the other hand supported the payment of taxes supported the policy of arresting anyone who did not pay their taxes. Jesus was considered the greatest enemy of the Pharisees and the Herodians, and both groups joined together in a plot to trap Jesus even though they greatly disliked each other.

Let’s consider the question they brought to Jesus- Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? If Jesus said the people should pay taxes, the Pharisees could turn the people against Him. If Jesus said it was unlawful to pay taxes to Caesar, He could be arrested by Herod’s soldiers. The question to us is: If you were in Jesus’ position – what would be your response? Would you most likely give two contradicting answers to each group just to please each party? Would you shy away from the confrontation, manipulate the truth, or speak the truth firmly?

The trap that the Pharisees set for Jesus presents what could be a challenge to personal loyalty. What is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God? Jesus did not defend Himself irrationally, He did not shy away from the confrontation, or manipulate the truth to His own advantage. In response, Jesus spoke the truth in a simple way and refused to engage his opponents in their tricks. Jesus’s response challenges us to consider the standards by which we owe things to an authority, in other words, where our loyalties lie. How do we respond when we feel as though another person is trying to trap us or challenge us?  Do we become more concerned about our defense than with speaking the truth or are we tempted to twist our answers rather than speak with sincerity and honesty? Are we more like the Pharisees and Herodians whose goal was to trap and win?

In our lives, the truth may require that we admit our mistakes and faults and apologize when confronted.

Jesus’s response also helps us acknowledge that while we owe our loyalty ultimately to God, we often must honor that by respecting our duties toward the community to which we belong i.e. the society, and the government of our country. But if we are to take our faith seriously, we are also concerned about others who are far away from us.

This Sunday presents us with another profound opportunity to renew our commitment to the Great Commission. The World Mission Sunday, celebrated globally serves as a call to mobilize faith, resources, and action in advancing the Gospel to our brothers and sisters living in the different parts of our world. Importantly, it is the only collection mandated by the Code of Canon Law.

As the theme for this year’s World Mission Sunday, Pope Francis has chosen: “Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move.” It is based on the narrative of the disciples’ encounter with Jesus on their way to Emmaus, as narrated in Luke 24:13-35. This passage of the scripture vividly reminds us that when our hearts are set ablaze by the living Christ, our feet naturally move in mission, spreading the warmth of His love and the light of His Word.

The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, one of four Pontifical Mission Societies, was founded by French laywoman Blessed Pauline Jaricot in 1822. She planted the seed for what today is the World Mission Sunday Collection by asking her friends to pray daily and donate a penny a week for the missionaries working on spreading the Gospel to all nations. Let us join our Holy Father Pope Francis in praying for the young, persecuted, and poor Churches in over 1,100 dioceses around the world that benefit from the World Mission Sunday collection this weekend.

As we reflect on our baptismal promise to be disciples and missionaries, to embrace the call to have our “Hearts on fire, feet on the move.” I invite you to live simply, care deeply, love genuinely and give generously, speak kindly, and bloom where you are planted!

We come before the Lord, asking Him to fuel our passion and direct our steps as we bear witness to His love throughout the world.

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

This is World Mission Sunday and our week’s reflection is presented by our monastery guest: Sister Elizabeth Ogbu.  Sister is living with us and serving in the Accounts Receivable Office of the Pontifical Mission Society’s National Office based in St. Petersburg.  Sister travels 3 days a week to the office in downtown St. Petersburg.  She works two days remotely (and spends weekends) here at the monastery.  We pray God bless her labor for the church and, please God, travel with her as she makes that long trek on I-75 three days a week.  We wish her good luck as she seeks to secure partial-week housing closer to her place of work.

 

First Reading: Isaiah 45:1, 4-6     Second Reading:  1st Thessalonians 1:1-5
Gospel:   Matthew 22:15-21
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: Caesar, census tax, God, Jesus, Pharisees, World Mission Sunday

A Study of Contrasts

October 24, 2016 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

righteousnessFirst Reading  Sirach 35:12-14,16-      Second Reading  2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Gospel  Luke 18:9-14

It is important to note at the outset of this particular reading to whom Jesus is speaking in this parable.  Luke says:  “Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”

The whole parable is a study in contrasts between the prayer of the Pharisee and the prayer of the tax collector.  Jesus teaches us, his listeners, to pray in humility before God. He surprises his listeners, including us, by highlighting the tax collector as the example of faith – a model for prayer. He reminds us if we are too full of ourselves, there is too little room for God’s grace to work in us.

It’s interesting to notice that everything the Pharisee says is true. He has set himself apart from others by his faithful adherence to the law. He is, by the standards of his day what Luke and Jesus seem to term, righteous. So before we judge him too quickly, we might reframe his prayer slightly and wonder if we have uttered it ourselves. Maybe we haven’t said, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like other people…”, but what about, on seeing someone down on her luck, “There but for the grace of God go I”? It isn’t that the Pharisee is speaking falsely, but rather that the Pharisee misses the true nature of his blessing. As Luke says early on in this reading, he has trust in himself. His prayer of gratitude may be addressed to the God, but it is really about himself. He credits his righteousness entirely in his own actions.

The tax collector, on the other hand, does not even raise his eyes to heaven.  He knows that he possesses no means by which to claim righteousness. He declares he has done nothing of merit. So, he stands back, hardly daring to approach the Temple, and throws himself on the mercy of the Lord.  He seems not so much humble as desperate.  He is too overwhelmed by his plight to take time to divide people into categories.  He stakes is hope entirely on the mercy of God.

At the end of the day, the Pharisee will leave the Temple and return to his home righteous. This hasn’t changed; he was virtuous, honorable, and righteous when he came to the temple.  That hasn’t changed … he’s still righteous when he leaves the temple. His mistake, as Scott Peck says, is that he thinks that whenever he wants to he can pull “God out of his back pocket.”   On the other hand, the tax collector will leave the Temple and go back down to his home justified, that is, accounted righteous.  As Luke expresses it: he is exalted in God’s eyes because he humbled himself.

If you’re spiritually alive, and give credit where credit is due, you’re going to love this take on the parable.  If you’re spiritually dead, you won’t even want to hear / read it.
If you’re spiritually curious, there is still hope!

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of his hometown newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to him at all to go to church every Sunday………

He wrote: “I’ve gone for 30 years now, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them.  So, I think I’m wasting my time, the preachers and priests are wasting their time by giving sermons at all”.

This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column.  Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

“I’ve been married for 30 years now….. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals…… But, for the life of me—- I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.

[Or we might say: I’ve been in community x number of years… in that time I’ve been  nourished and supported by my Sisters thousands of times in hundreds of different ways …But, I can only recall a few instances in detail ….]

But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work.   If my wife (my community) had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today.

Likewise, if I had not gone to church – been faithful to my time of private and communal prayer – for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”  AMEN!

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Blog, Homily Tagged With: contrasts, God, Jesus, parable, Pharisee, Pharisees, righteous

God’s Law – God’s Love

September 12, 2016 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

gods-lawFirst Reading  Exodus 32:7-11,13-14                 Second Reading 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel Reading  Luke 15:1-32                            Intention Responsible Citizenship

An inner city church, located in an area of a large American city where there were few residents, was forced to a decision. A large corporation was offering them a great deal of money for their site, on which the corporation wanted to put a parking lot. The money would enable the parish to move to the inner city where they would find many more people to serve. Even though this was exciting to some of the congregation, other members were resistant to the idea. They pointed out that the church was the guardian of a building whose history and architecture reached back into the early part of the nineteenth century. History had been made in that building.

Eventually the congregation decided to sell the site and make the move to the inner-city neighborhood. The pastor said, “We had to decide whether we wanted to be in a museum or in mission, we couldn’t have it both ways.  It meant either staying on the original site, glorying in the past history and serving a few people, or giving up the past and gearing up ourselves for a significant ministry among the city’s people. We opted for mission status over museum status.

Something of this same struggle is indicated in this Gospel. The Pharisees and scribes came down on the side of museum religion. They wanted attention given to those who were stable, pious and not a liability if invited to the local country club. Their rationale was “Let’s have our synagogue programs be dependable for our like-minded types.”  Jesus disappointed them by insisting that the issue was one of mission: to reach out to those who needed great mercy and perhaps a bath.

The Pharisees’ love of God’s law made them forget about God’s love.   God loves us even more than a parent loves a child. God longs to rescue those who are lost.  (It’s like his favorite pastime.)  Our loving God will search for that which is lost. There’s no giving up, no quitting point. Just like looking for a lost coin – there’s no such thing as a life without worth. God doesn’t mind stooping down to find us and lift us up from the depths we have fallen into. Each time you stoop to pick up something that has fallen to the floor, however trivial a thing it may seem, that God does not disdain to stoop down to pick us up each and every time, after time that we fall.

In Jesus’ day when a husband took a bride, he gave her a headband with ten silver coins that were evenly spaced. She wore this headband in public to show that she was married. If she was unfaithful, one of the coins was removed, and the gap showed that she had disgraced her marriage vows. It was a shame and disgrace to lose any of these coins.

Loss of the coin in Jesus’ parable it seems was a result of carelessness, but not a moral disgrace. It was lost on a dirt floor in the darkness. People without God are the like that. They are not just lost, they are in the dirt and the dark. They need Jesus, the Light of the World – we all do.   Jesus looks for us, so He can bring us out of the darkness into the light!   Our community hospitality ministry helps people come into the light of welcome, friendship and compassion so that they in turn can be a light to those they associate with.   We feed their hunger for peace, camaraderie, spiritual growth, a prayerful liturgy and often top it with a good meal.

Let me end with a story that proves we never know what will bring people to their knees.

A minister was waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him there was a fellow who was dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket and jeans. Saint Peter addressed the asked, “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?”    “I’m Joe Cohen, taxi driver, of New York City”. Saint Peter consulted his list, smiled and said:  “Take this silken robe and enter.

Away he went.  Next in line was the minister. . He stood erect and boomed out, “I am Msgr Joseph, pastor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral for the last forty-three years.” Saint Peter consulted his list and said to the minister, “Here, take this cotton robe and you can come in.” Just a minute here,” said the minister. “That man was a taxi driver and he gets a silken robe. How can this be?” ”

“Up here,” said St. Peter, we work by results. While you preached, people slept. While he drove, people prayed.”

~Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
Continue Reading

Filed Under: Blog, Homily Tagged With: God, God's Law, God's Love, Gospel, Jesus, Pharisees

Footer

Prayer / Newsletter / Info

 Contact Info

Benedictine Sisters of Florida

PO Box 2450
12138 Wichers Road
St. Leo, FL 33574-2450
(352) 588-8320
(352) 588-8443

 Mass Schedule

Related Links

Copyright © 2025 · Benedictine Sisters of FL · Touching Lives Through Prayer and Service

Copyright © 2025 · Bendedictine Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in