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Every human being has a remarkable ability. It is the capacity to adopt. I have always been impressed by the fact that Saint Joseph adopted Jesus. He did not know exactly what was going on, he only knew that this child was not his own, not of his blood. He did not get angry, he did not blame Mary, he simply followed the word of the angel: “Before Mary and Joseph lived together, she was found…

The prayers and good wishes I received on the occasion of my nomination and blessing as abbot were truly overwhelming. I wish everyone could have a similar experience. When so many people think of you, send you good thoughts, and pray for you, it gives you incredible strength and support. Ultimately, this support comes from God, but it is conveyed through people, through friends. What if we could…

Sometimes we feel that there is not enough love in our lives. We think that our spouse, our confrere, our fellow human being, could love us more. God could love us even more. Our desire for love is so deep and comprehensive that it is hardly possible to satisfy it completely. We should not feel guilty about this longing. That is simply how we are made. Why is that? Because God created us that…

I recently met a woman in her early 60s who shared with me her concerns about political developments and the future. In view of the uncertainties of our time, her conclusion was: enjoy every day, make as much of it as you can while you are healthy, invest in your health and take each day as it comes. Then we talked about aging and the fact that as we get old, we may need care and assistance, some…

Since I had the gift of spending some time in Egypt with my brother monks in a Coptic Benedictine monastery, I was able to experience our prayer in a different environment. I stood and prayed in front of an iconostasis. Normally, in our Latin-Western tradition, everything is open. You can see the altar. You can see the sanctuary. But this is not the case in the Eastern churches. The iconostasis…

In the former Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Germany, there is a painting from the 17th century that shows Jesus as a hunter. It is a rather unusual image of Jesus. We see him as a fairly young man holding a rifle in his hands and shooting at some wild animals. Next to him are three women who allegorically embody faith, hope and love. In the background, four people can be seen in the…

Our brain is made to think. That’s why we have thoughts in our heads most of the time, sometimes non-stop, sometimes a little quieter. The monks, when they withdraw from the noisy outside world, learn to study the thoughts and voices in their minds. There are all kinds of thoughts. Good ones and bad ones. Those that come from God and bring peace, healing and joy, and those that do not come from…

Sometimes we are not successful. Sometimes we have done things in vain. Sometimes we have put a lot of effort in something, but it did not turn out the way we wanted. There are many things that can interfere, the weather, stupid accidents, our health. Often it is the people who don’t go along what we had aimed for, our bosses, our colleagues. Sometimes it is the evil one who crosses out our…

We freeze vanilla ice cream. We heat raspberries. And then we put the ice-cold cream and the hot fruit together and eat them! We do strange things. There used to be a bumpy gravel road behind our monastery school. We spent a lot of money to asphalt it. But because people were driving too fast on the beautiful road, we put speed bumps on it. Now the cars drive in a slalom. Life is interesting.…

There is so much suffering in the world. Near and far. I think of the people in regions where there is war and terror. Many innocent people have to go through terrible things. Sometimes for a long time. A sentence from the third song of the Lord’s Servant in Isaiah comes to mind: “Therefore I have set my face like flint” (Isaiah 50:7). It is terrible when someone – in order to survive injustice…

One of my fondest childhood memories is when I went for a walk with my father, he took me by the hand and I skipped along. In fact, I have seen many fathers or mothers walking like this since then, and one reason for the child’s skipping is certainly that his or her steps are shorter and so he or she can follow more easily. But you also see young animals hopping. It seems to be an expression of…

I recently distributed Holy Communion during Mass in a small town. As in many places in Europe, most of the faithful are quite old. It is always touching for me to see the hands that are stretched out to receive the Lord, hands that have been worked through and worked off. The faces too – in many of them you can see – or at least guess – the traces that life has left on people, you can see the…

The life of St. Benedict, as described by Pope Gregory the Great, is a story with many miracles and many interventions by God himself in the lives of monks and people. There is a special feature in this story: whenever Benedict prays for help in a difficult situation, God acts fast and immediately. In Latin it is called “subito” or “protinus”, “celeriter” or “festinatio”. This characteristic…

Some things we experience are so disturbing, for example battles between peoples, the arising of wars, but also fights between individuals, and even struggels within ourselves, that it is difficult to find an explanation, a way to understand. In this distress, the Bible offers a way of interpretation: “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers,…

During my vacation I had the opportunity to travel and talk to many people, people with different opinions and political and religious views. My impression was confirmed that the “fronts” are hardened. Even if you want to stay in the middle ground, there is a dynamic that pushes you into one bubble or the other. For the Church, this is certainly to her disadvantage. For our countries, it probably…

Sometimes it’s just too funny. There are moments in children’s lives that are so hilarious; how they look, how they act, how they respond, what ideas they come up with. Years later, our parents would still remember these stories and share what we did when we were children. The kids might be exhausting, annoying, but suddenly there’s a moment when something funny happens, and they’re just…

Recently I was a guest in a family. I witnessed a little conversation between the husband and his wife. It was in the morning. He was about to leave for work, she was still sitting at the breakfast table. She said, “You haven’t given me a kiss yet”. She said this without resentment. She was just reminding him. He kissed her immediately. It was nothing special, nothing extraordinary, not even…