Reflection for Sunday 21 September 2025 – Pentecost XV – by Br Aelred

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O Lord, make us beacons of hope and peace. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

This is such a beautiful time of the year, as we reflect on creation. All the beauty around us that we can smell, taste, hear and see. A time when we reflect and meditate on how we as created beings are interwoven and interconnected with one another.

As we continue on these reflections and meditations, we meet Jesus this morning, giving a teaching, which is quite a difficult one when you first read it. In my opinion, the key to understanding it lies in the 13th verse:

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.“

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Reflection for Sunday 21 September 2025 – Pentecost XV – by Br Aelred Read More »

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross – 14 September 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel

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There is a story of a woman who went to a jewellery store to buy a cross. After perusing the crosses presented to her, the jeweller said he had some more crosses in the back, with a little man on them!

Bishop Robert Barron offers this reflection on this scenario:  “We are so accustomed to seeing religious images of Jesus on the cross that much of the horror and humiliation of crucifixion is lost on us.  But, for a person of the first century, operating within the confines of the Roman Empire, crucifixion was about the worst thing he or she could imagine.  What was involved in that form of capital punishment was just too vividly present in the popular imagination.”

Salvador Dali, a genius of obscure art and brilliant talent, painted a painting called Christ of St John of the Cross. I think it is an astonishing painting. It shows Jesus on the Cross, but from above. Someone once pointed out that that was the point from which God surveyed the suffering of his Son. I find that very poignant, sad and wonderful.

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The Exaltation of the Holy Cross – 14 September 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel Read More »

Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

I wonder how you felt, how you responded within yourself, when you heard these words from Luke’s Gospel read this morning? Did Jesus really just tell would-be disciples in the crowd around him that they had to hate their family members?

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August 2025 News

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Br Ephrem has returned to our Holy Cross Monastery in the USA, after spending a month with the monastic community here. In addition to teaching a weekly class for all of the Junior monks – those both here and in the USA – and meeting with each Junior individually, he enjoyed several outings together with the Juniors. Br Ephrem also celebrated at several Eucharists, preached and contributed his piano skills at Sunday mass, and even cooked a couple of times for our monastic community. His enthusiastic presence was much appreciated. Before he left us, we enjoyed being hosted to supper by Alyson and Mike, one of the long-time Volmoed residential couples.

The timing of Br Ephrem’s visit with us meant that he could accompany us when we returned for a couple of days to the property in Harkerville outside Plettenberg Bay that we are in the process of acquiring. With the transfer approaching, we decided to spend more time there so that we could improve the preparations for our relocation. The current owners generously allowed us to stay on the property for two nights. While there, we met with several people involved in the negotiations, including Helene the sales agent and Dave the property inspector, whose contributions have been very helpful.

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August 2025 News Read More »

Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost by Br Mpumelelo

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Scripture Readings

Let us pray: Show us Your ways, O LORD; teach us Your paths. Lead us in Your truth and teach us, for You are the GOD of our salvation; on You we wait all the day. Amen.

HUMILITY IS KEY TO BE EXALTED BY GOD! One of the Psalmists says: “For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But GOD is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.” (Psalms 75:6-7)

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Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost by Br Mpumelelo Read More »

Pentecost X – 17 August 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings

I do not have any children, but sometimes I do wonder about them. What would they have looked like? Would they be as obtuse and difficult as I am? What music would they have liked? What would their lives look like? Most importantly, however, I often wonder how I would have loved them.

As it happened though, I had dogs, mostly Great Danes, and lately our mutt Molly of beloved memory. I also have a lot of nieces and nephews, and I can only extrapolate from how much I love them and their children and have loved my dogs, how I hopefully would have loved my children.

Those of you that do have children and grandchildren, know how much you love them. If we believe what we read about the God of Love in the Bible, how much more does God not love us?

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Pentecost X – 17 August 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel Read More »

Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

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Scripture Readings

In last week’s gospel reading, Jesus answered a question from someone in the crowd around him. He cautioned against all kinds of greed, asserting that a person’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. He made a distinction between those who store up treasure for themselves and those who are rich towards God.

This week, Jesus is still answering the question, but in the meantime he has turned from the crowd to his disciples. He has been telling them not to be anxious or obsessed about food or drink or clothing, because their heavenly Father knows that they need these things. They should rather have the kingdom of God as their primary concern.

In the gospel reading from two weeks ago, the disciples had witnessed Jesus at prayer. Perhaps something of his intimacy with his heavenly Father prompted them to ask him to teach them to pray. He responded with the prayer formula that has become established in the Church as the Our Father, and then went on to assure them that that same Father knows how to give good gifts to his children – in particular, the gift of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to live the life of the kingdom of God.

This week, we hear Jesus telling his disciples not to be afraid, something he insists on over and over again in the gospels. And then he says something more, something quite wonderful. He says that their heavenly Father is delighted to give them the gift of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of love and truth, the kingdom of justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This eagerness on God’s part to share the kingdom, to invite all people to enter it, is the basis of relationship with God.

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Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Read More »

July 2025 News

Celebrations, News from the Priory / /

One of the highlights of the past month was the annual celebration of the Feast Day of St Benedict, which we shared with the resident Volmoed community and the Volmoed staff. A festal Eucharist at noon was followed by a fine catered meal. The awareness that this would almost certainly be the last such celebration we would host at Volmoed in this way added a certain poignancy to the occasion, and we took the opportunity to express our gratitude for the hospitality and support we have experienced during our time here. Br Josias received Rev Dr Robert Marankey from Cape Town as an Associate of Holy Cross during the Eucharistic celebration.

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July 2025 News Read More »

Thursdays at Volmoed – 31 July 2025 – Sermon by Br Josias

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Psalm 84

In the name of God, the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. Amen!

“My soul has a desire and longing to enter the courts of the Lord: with my whole being I sing for joy to the living God”.[1]

When the soul has a desire for the house of the Lord, it could mean one of two things. From a traditional point of view, the psalm ties the presence of God to the temple. So, from the onset, the psalmist might be saying he longs for the presence of God and may only find God in the temple. Of course, that might not be the case today. But there was a time when temple/church became the central point to have an intimate relationship with God. The psalmist believed the temple to be a place he could re-establish his relationship with God. His appreciation for God’s house is not simply because it is beautiful. His soul longs for God’s presence, and even faints when denied the privilege of meeting with God among His people.  

On the other hand, longing for the house of the Lord could also mean he just needed a place to feel safe. As the psalmist goes on to say, one day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else; I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God than live in the homes of the wicked. [2] Some scholars suggest that this psalm could have been written before or after the Babylonian exile. [3] Which makes me think the psalmist’s desire to stand at the gate of the temple is simple a desire for safety or security. Clearly, he wants a different environment from what he is used to.

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Thursdays at Volmoed – 31 July 2025 – Sermon by Br Josias Read More »

Reflection for Sunday 27 July 2025 – Pentecost VII – by Br Aelred

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Scripture Readings

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today, we meet Jesus as he is returning from the place where He went to go and pray. We are shown how important that sacred time with God was to Him.

From that encounter, His disciples might have seen this beautiful intimacy that He had with His Father, and they too might have yearned and longed for that intimacy, hence the request: Lord, teach us how to pray?

We receive this morning Luke’s account of Jesus’ response.

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Reflection for Sunday 27 July 2025 – Pentecost VII – by Br Aelred Read More »

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