Community Thanksgivings
Each year, at Thanksgiving we ask our brothers to read out what they are grafteful for at the time of the Prayers of the People in our daily Eucharist.It is always time to give thanks to God our Father for all his gifts so freely bestowed upon us, but particularly on this national holiday of gratitude. Thank you to each and every one of you for your prayers and support to our monastery's life and ministries.Our brothers’ thanksgivings:

125 years ago...
...James Otis Sargent Huntington, was the first monk to make his Life Profession into the Order of the Holy Cross which he was founding.James Otis Sargent HuntingtonFrom "Holy Cross - A Century of Anglican Monasticism" by Br. Adam Dunbar McCoy,

Thank you, Grahamstown Brothers!
Brother Robert James Magliula, OHC, loves to draw with pastels and is good at it; very good!In early November the council of the Order of the Holy Cross was meeting at our monastery here in West Park. Br. Timothy, the prior of our Grahamstown, South Africa, monastery was here for those meetings. That week also happened to be the week I would make my Life Profession.On the morning of my profession, Timothy came up to my floor, in the enclosure, and while still in the morning silence handed me a large flat prese

Words and new words - November 2009
As I read for pleasure or study, I keep bumping into words I either don't know or don't feel confident about. Below, I note their definition for my future review. I only note those definitions that relate to the context I am encountering (i.e. there may be more meanings to the word). I indicate texts from which I searched for them if I think it reflects things I am ruminating about.M

The Kingdom of God is close at hand
Today (Sunday 22 November) was the feast of Christ the King. I had found out late that I was due to preach this morning (an internal communication oversight). A year or two ago, I would have panicked and asked to be relieved of that duty. This time I took it on. The sermon got several reactions which I always take as a good sign.Maybe I knew I was ready to do this sort of last minute job. I discovered the texts Friday night, went on with many appointments on Saturday, and read several sermons and commentaries on these texts. I have started using a new commentary that looks very promisi