October 6 2026 - St. Bruno - Christian Maturity and the Cross

 

Nearly 950 years ago, St. Bruno, whom we honor today, founded the Carthusians. The Carthusian way of life combines the prayerful solitude of the hermetical life with the mutual support of communal monasticism. Carthusians withdraw from the world in order to seek the face of Christ in intense prayer, fasting, and cultivation of virtue.

The Carthusians have the distinction of have a rule of life that has gone virtually unchanged for those 950 years. While the cultures of the world have changed, their strict way of life has not. And this is very much in keeping with the motto set by St. Bruno: Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.  “While the world changes, the cross stands firm.” The ways of the world, its values, ideals and priorities, are constantly in flux, but the cross remains the way to salvation and the road to perfection.

That road is meant for every one of us. Jesus calls every disciple to take up his cross and follow him. Through the cross, we learn to surrender whatever keeps us from loving God with our whole heart.

St. Paul expresses that surrender in our first reading: “I consider everything as loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul had discovered that knowing Christ was worth more than everything he once prized. He desired to share Christ’s sufferings and become conformed to his death, trusting that this road leads to resurrection.

We entered that same mystery at baptism. The Christian life unfolds as we allow Christ to put our sins to death and bring his love to maturity within us.

For St. Bruno, this meant leaving behind worldly honors and comforts for a life of intense prayer and penance. For us, it means what? Examining what we cling to and asking whether those attachments draw us toward God or away from him. Learning to trust God that we are called, like Christ, to give of ourselves—there is no greater love than he who lays down his life for another.

The cross is the road of perfection. Now, St. Paul admits at the time of writing to the Philippians that he had not attained perfect Christian maturity, he was still a work in progress, but he says, “I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it”. Again, St. Bruno sought Christian maturity in the walls of the monastery.

All of us struggle with sin and vice, but we must not give up hope of possessing Christian maturity. But Christian maturity involves intentionality and discipline. Overcoming vice, practicing self-sacrifice are not easy. But the cross is the road to life. Each of us are called to seek union with Christ as best as we can in whatever our vocation or circumstances, following where God leads us.

Through St. Bruno’s intercession, may we follow the crucified Lord with undivided hearts, trusting that everything surrendered for his sake opens us more fully to his life, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That the contemplative religious orders of the Church may inspire all Christians to seek God in moments of prayer, silence, and solitude.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the call of Christ to turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

That those whose lives are marked by suffering may come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the bishop and priests gathering for the Priest Convocation this week: that their time together in prayer, work, and fraternity may bear good fruit for the mission of the Church in our Diocese.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

 

October 6 2021 - St. Bruno - While the world changes, the cross stands firm

 St. Bruno had a very impressive ecclesiastical career. As a priest of the French Archdiocese of Reims, he was named by his bishop as director of a prestigious school for nearly two decades, acquiring an excellent reputation as a philosopher and theologian. Among his students would go on to become abbots, prelates, bishops, cardinals, and even a Pope. 

In 1075, he was appointed Chancellor of Reims, and was nearly on the verge of being named a bishop, himself, when he and two fellow priests took a vow to withdraw from the world in study and prayer as hermits. They became known as the Carthusians, named after the Chartreuse mountains where they built their first hermitage.

He refused being named bishop and archbishop many times, seeking Christian perfection as a monastic. At the time of his death, his fellow hermits extolled Bruno’s fervent prayer, extreme mortification, and his undying devotion to the Blessed Virgin.   

Since its founding by St. Bruno, the Carthusian way of life has gone unchanged, following Bruno’s ideal of penance and prayer for almost 950 years, following the motto set by St. Bruno: Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.  “While the world changes, the cross stands firm.”  While cultures change, while civilizations rise and falls, while technologies spring up to provide conveniences, the cross remains the way to salvation and the road to perfection.

Though they withdraw from the world, Carthusians see themselves deeply united to the Church, united to all of us through their prayer and penance. In the statutes for the order we read: “separated from all, we are united to all for it is in the name of all that we present ourselves to the living God.”  They offer their lives for us, praying for us, and doing penance for us, that we may know God deeply and do the work of the Church in the world.

Consecrated men and women like the Carthusians win great graces for us, and we mustn’t let those graces go in vain. We do well to remember them, and to lift them up in prayer, and consider how the Lord calls us to stand apart from the changing world, its values, its errors, and remain close to the unchanging cross of Christ through prayer and penance, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

That the contemplative religious orders of the Church may inspire all Christians to seek God in moments of prayer, silence, and solitude. 

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering may come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

October 6 2020 - St. Bruno - Athletes of the soul

 

The Christian Philosopher Svoren Kierkegaard said if he were a doctor he would prescribe as a remedy for all the world’s disorders, “silence”. St. Bruno, who we honor today would certainly agree. As the founder of the Carthusians, Bruno desired to provide a place for those who felt a call to withdraw from the chaos of the world in order to seek a deep, lively, joyful relationship with Jesus Christ.

St. Bruno said, “In the solitude and silence...God gives his athletes the reward they desire: a peace that the world does not know and joy in the Holy Spirit."  Interesting, isn’t it, that he called his monks athletes? Though the Carthusians withdraw from the chaos of the world, they are anything but inactive, they are training—like football players and cross country runners, who practice and train and build their endurance and fight against the limitations of the body, the monks take up the call to train their souls and fight against the spiritual evils that beset us. 

And something happens when you become serious about this spiritual training. Bruno says, you gain the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, a peace and joy that nothing in the world can give.

Not all of us are called to join the monastery, but those of us, still in the world, can certainly attest to the fact, that when we have prayed as we should, and engaged in the works of mercy as we should, there is a deepening of peace and joy, isn’t there?

St. Bruno prescribed silence for his monks, for he knew that silence is that most excellent means for growing in deep union with God. Again, we know this to be true. When we turn off the distractions, and seek God in silence, there is an encounter with the whom who was waiting for us there, in the silence. For in silence, In silent contemplation, God is waiting to speak important, life-giving words to us. But that means we need to incline our ear to Him, by turning away from noise.

St. Paul, says he considers all as loss that takes him away from that supreme good. The Lord too, in the Gospel, tries to show the foolishness of the excuses we make for not praying, for not following him.

Just as the athlete needs to practice discipline in doing what is good and avoiding what is bad for his physical training, the Christian needs to practice greater spiritual discipline in seeking what is good for our souls and avoiding what is bad, that we may grow in the peace and joy of the spirit. 

May St. Bruno help us through his example and heavenly intercession to race into the silence to meet God, to practice the discipline we need to grow more deeply in sanctity, that we may become instruments to bring souls to Christ and Christ to souls for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the contemplative religious orders of the Church may inspire all Christians to seek God in moments of prayer, silence, and solitude. 

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering may come to know the healing and peace of Christ.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

October 6 2017 - St. Bruno - Silence: A simple and joyful rest, full of God

The Christian Philosopher Svoren Kierkegaard said if he were a doctor he would prescribe as a remedy for all the world’s disorders, “silence”. St. Bruno, who we honor today would certainly agree.
St. Bruno said, “In the solitude and silence...God gives his athletes the reward they desire: a peace that the world does not know and joy in the Holy Spirit." Saint Bruno was the founder of the Carthusians.  Since its founding by St. Bruno, the Carthusian way of life has gone unchanged, following Bruno’s ideal of penance and prayer for almost 950 years.

950 years ago, St. Bruno was urging Christians to withdraw from the noise of the world. What would he say about the noise of our age? He would certainly see it as a danger spiritual growth, as we all know well…it is!

The contemplative seeks out silence, because silence is the excellent means to deep union with God. About 400 years before Bruno, St. John Climacus wrote that “the lover of silence draws close to God. He talks to him in secret and God enlightens him.” “Intelligent silence is the mother of prayer, freedom from bondage, custodian of zeal, a guard on our thoughts, a watch on our enemies, a prison of mourning, a friend of tears, a sure recollection of death, a painter of penance, a concern with judgment, a servant of anguish, a foe of license, a companion of stillness, the opponent of dogmatism, a growth of knowledge, a hand to shape contemplation, hidden progress, the secret journey upward.”

Each of us would do well to discern what we could do to carve out more space for silence in our lives. Through silence the Lord wishes to bring us a peace that the world does not know and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In silent contemplation, God wishes to speak important, life-giving words to us. But that means we need to incline our ear to Him, by turning away from the noise makers.

Bruno said “the ambience of solitude, the absence of any disturbing noise and of worldly desires and images, the quiet and calm attention of the mind to God, helped by prayer and leisurely reading, flow into that rest of the soul in God. A simple and joyful rest, full of God, that leads the monk to feel, in some way, the beauty of eternal life.”

May we cultivate the prayer, the spiritual reading, the solitude, the silence, which helps our souls rest in God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the contemplative religious orders of the Church may inspire all Christians to seek God in moments of prayer, silence, and solitude.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering may come to know the healing and peace of Christ.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.