We believe passionately that God has given us a mission: to draw others to know and experience in their lives the love of God in Christ. Sharing this “Good News” is at the center of our call and our life. In our chapels and retreat houses, and our online teachings, we hope to offer a still point in the midst of the chaos of contemporary life. We hope that as you explore these pages, you’ll find “Good News” that will help you live authentically, responsive to God’s call of love.
Saint George, Patron Saint of England – Br. Curtis Almquist
Ephesians 6:10-20 Mark 8:34-38 We remember today a soldier named George who lived in Palestine at the beginning of the fourth century. He was killed, not in service to the emperor Diocletian but rather martyred as a soldier of Christ. He became known throughout the Eastern Church as “The Great Martyr.”Support SSJE Please support the…
Read MoreEmmaus – Br. Geoffrey Tristram
Luke 24:13-35 Every year for eight years on Easter Monday, I used to make a twenty mile hike. It was from Welwyn, Hertfordshire, where I was parish priest, to our cathedral in St Albans. I would be joined by about a hundred young people and helpers from our Sunday School and Youth Group. Support SSJE…
Read MoreFeast of the Annunciation – Br. Curtis Almquist
Luke 1:26-38 Sister John of the Cross is a contemporary Carmelite nun who experiences spiritual visions of such dazzling power and insight that she is sought after and revered by many people as being something of a spiritual master. The only qualification to her spiritual prowess is that her visions are accompanied by powerful headaches.…
Read MoreThe Day of Resurrection: The Easter Vigil – Br. Curtis Almquist
Matthew 28:1-10 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like…
Read MoreThe Fear of the Love of God – Br. Curtis Almquist
Psalm 33:18 Back in the 1960s, as a young boy, I attended a series of services at a church. It was a called a ‘prophecy conference,’and I knew I was doomed. The conference focused on a certain interpretation of the last book of the Bible, The Book of Revelation, drawing especially on the teaching of…
Read MoreLenten Disipline – Br. Curtis Almquist
This past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we entered the season of Lent. It’s not insignificant that Lent lasts for forty days, and not by accident. The number forty was evidently suggested by the forty days of fasting recorded in the scriptures: Moses, and Elijah, and especially Jesus himself (following his baptism) all fasted for forty days……
Read MoreMighty Waves – Br. Curtis Almquist
Matthew 14:22-33 I would suspect that everyone here knows the terror of the sea, whether or not you’ve even ever been out in a boat or at the beach. I think that the words of the psalmist have a haunting familiarity for most of us: “The breakers of death rolled over me, and the torrents…
Read MoreThe Holy Name of Jesus – Br. Curtis Almquist
Luke 2:15-21 Back in my early elementary school years, one of my biggest fears was that someone would discover my middle name. Nobody but my family knew it. And it was also all their fault. My middle name is “Gustav,” a Swedish name passed down from my paternal grandfather and my own father. I had…
Read MoreWho Took the Baby? – Br. James Koester
John 1:1-14 If you have paid close attention yesterday and today you may have noticed, as Brother David told us in his homily yesterday, that something is missing, or perhaps I should say, someone is missing, and you would be right. We have all been waiting a long time, and suddenly the day has come…
Read MoreRefract Jesus – Br. Curtis Almquist
Luke1:2-14 Christmas would not be Christmas (perhaps for many of us) without our singing Adeste Fideles, this cherished hymn with which we began our liturgy this evening. I suspect that many of us here may even know the hymn mostly by heart: Support SSJE Please support the Brothers work. The brothers of SSJE rely on…
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