Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

As a Cistercian abbot, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) had the responsibility of teaching monks through commentary on the Rule of Benedict and Scripture. In partially meeting this responsibility the founder of Clairvaux Abbey, and subsequently named Doctor of the Church, wrote more than 700 sermons in his life. Monastic Sermons, translated by Daniel Griggs… Read More ›

Mercy Sunday 2020 I am reliving these moments with Our Lady. With great longing, I am waiting for the Lord’s coming. Great are my desires. I desire that all humankind come to know the Lord. I would like to prepare all nations for the coming of the Word Incarnate. O Jesus, make the fount of… Read More ›

With all the re-working of the website the October Newsletter “disappeared.” For some reason the post never remained on the site and the newsletter part of the website had some formatting issues so the entire column of 2020 also “disappeared.” Everything is back in place and the website is up and running properly again —… Read More ›

The June issue of the Oblate Newsletter has been posted. Along with the Ordo and Necrology you will also find: On Line Meeting Dates Reading Assignments for on Line Meetings Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Reading of the Ancients: The Fathers and the Bible Margaret Mary Alacoque and the Sacred Heart of Jesus Act… Read More ›

Abba Anthony heard of a very young monk who had performed a miracle on the road. Seeing the old men walking with difficulty along the road, he ordered the wild asses to come and carry them until they reached Abba Anthony. Those whom they had carried told Abba Anthony about it. He said to them,… Read More ›

Washington D.C., Jan 15, 2018 / 11:55 am (CNA/EWTN News).- There are more than 215 million persecuted Christians worldwide according to the 2018 World Watch List, Open Doors USA’s annual ranking of the 50 worst countries for violence and persecution against Christians. The report found that one in twelve Christians worldwide are victims of violent persecution…. Read More ›

Here is a statement of Gandhi that sums up clearly and concisely the whole doctrine of nonviolence: “The way of peace is the way of truth.” “Truthfulness is even more important than peacefulness. Indeed, lying is the mother of violence. A truthful man cannot long remain violent. He will perceive in the course of his… Read More ›

For those who practice it, the experience of lectio sacra sharpens perception, enriches understanding, rouses from sloth, banishes idleness, orders life, corrects bad habits, produces salutary weeping and draws tears from contrite hearts . . . curbs idle speech and vanity, awakens longing for Christ and the heavenly homeland. It must always be accompanied by… Read More ›

1. At this General Audience on Wednesday of the Octave of Christmas, the liturgical Feast of the Holy Innocents, let us resume our meditation on Psalm 139[138], proposed in the Liturgy of Vespers in two distinct stages. After contemplating in the first part (cf. vv. 1-12) the omniscient and omnipotent God, the Lord of being… Read More ›

The archangel’s name in Hebrew means “Divine Healer.” Aleteia: Among the three archangels named in the Bible, St. Raphael is probably the least known. This is likely due to the fact that St. Raphael is only found in the Old Testament (and there only in a book not considered canonical by Jews or Protestant Christians),… Read More ›

between a rock and a hard place As a retreat/guest master here I get to meet some very interesting people. People come here who have no specific beliefs. We get Buddhist, Hindus, New Age, and Christians of just about every denomination, and atheists, and agnostics… Not many Muslims come through here, or if they do,… Read More ›

In Medjugorje God told me: “This is how much I love you….At that moment my life changed.” (Translated by Google Translate. Published originally at La Luce Di Maria) I felt the urge to look up in the sky and suddenly or felt like … a stroke of love, which took me straight to the heart,… Read More ›

    Due to circumstances, there will be no Oblate Meeting this Sunday, October 18.

Many saints have faced the realities of pandemics. What can we learn from them? While the world continues to trudge through the devastating effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic – deaths, hospitalizations, and untold economic damage – it can be helpful to look at how the world was plagued by a similar virus and how… Read More ›

14th-century recipes from a Benedictine monastery reveal a taste for rich, spicy food. Historian David Snowden, in his book Flans and Wine, has published recipes used by Benedictine monks in 14th-century England, revealing that those living in the abbey survived on far more than bread alone. The recipes, used by Benedictine monks from Evesham Abbey,… Read More ›

This coming week, Christian believers will celebrate the feast day of Saint Benedict of Norcia. The early sixth century saint still shines as one of Western culture’s brightest lights. And yet, of all the things that can rightly be said about him, sometimes the most obvious is missed. When the young saint found himself desolate… Read More ›

The consecration prayer calls on St. Raphael’s assistance in the “struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Within the Catholic Church, there are various devotional traditions with which you can consecrate yourself and your family to God, invoking the special intercession of a saint. One of the most popular consecration prayers is that… Read More ›