H O M É L I E

24 octobre 2026 – Dédicace de l’église de Scourmont

1Roi 8, 22-23.27-30 ; Actes 7,44-50 ; Luc 19, 1-10 

H O M É L I E 

           David, après s’être construit un palais superbe, avait décidé -- dans ce qu’il concevait sans doute comme un moment de grande magnanimité -- de construire aussi une résidence à Dieu (« Voici que je vis dans un palais de cèdre et que Dieu vit sous la tente !)  Et Dieu lui avait répondu : « Ce n’est pas toi qui me construira une maison ; c’est moi qui t’en ferai une. » 

           Il y a quelque chose de semblable dans l’Évangile d’aujourd’hui.  Zachée veut voir Jésus.  Zachée n’était pas précisément un pieux enfant de chœur.  C’était un collecteur d’impôts, et même le chef des collecteurs d’impôts de Jéricho.  Il était connu dans la ville comme un pécheur.  Il avait cependant un coeur d’enfant.  Il savait que Jésus allait passer par sa ville et il voulait tellement le voir, qu’il oublia pour un instant son importance et se mit à courir comme un enfant et grimpa dans un arbre pour le voir. 

           Que se passa-t-il alors ? – Les rôles furent renversés.  Alors que Zachée voulait voir Jésus, c’est Jésus qui vit Zachée et le regarda avec des yeux pleins d’amour qui le transformèrent.  Jésus leva les yeux vers Zachée dans son sycomore et lui dit : « Zachée, descends vite: aujourd'hui il faut que j'aille demeurer chez toi ».  Jésus veut entrer chez Zachée – non seulement dans sa maison, mais dans son coeur et dans sa vie, qui s’en trouve transformée.

           Nous pouvons alors comprendre pourquoi les églises chrétiennes ne sont pas d’abord des maisons de Dieu, mais des maisons du peuple de Dieu, comme saint Bernard nous le rappelait dans le texte que nous avons lu au deuxième nocturne des Vigiles, cette nuit.  C’est que Dieu ne veut pas habiter dans des maisons faites de mains d’hommes, mais dans le coeur de chacun d’entre nous.  « Ne savez-vous pas que vous êtes le temple de Dieu et que l’Esprit de Dieu habite en vous ? » nous dit saint Paul. 

           C’est parce que le Christ habite en nos coeurs que chaque fois que deux ou trois d’entre nous se réunissent au nom du Seigneur, il est là au milieu d’eux.  Et chaque fois que nous nous réunissons dans l’église de notre monastère pour exprimer dans la prière commune cette communion dans la foi, l’amour et l’espérance, nous sommes Église, nous sommes Peuple de Dieu et Jésus est là, présent au milieu de nous.  C’est d’ailleurs là la première forme de présence réelle du Christ dans l’Église.  Et chaque fois que nous faisons ensemble mémoire de Lui dans la célébration eucharistique, il est là présent dans toute la plénitude de sa présence : deuxième forme de présence réelle. 

           Zachée n’est-il pas un peu chacun de nous ?  Ou, plutôt, ne sommes-nous pas, chacun d’entre nous, un peu Zachée ? Saint Benoît, au début de sa Règle, dit qu’il a écrit celle-ci pour ceux qui, éloignés de Dieu par la désobéissance (ou le péché), veulent revenir à Dieu par la voie de l’obéissance.  Si nous sommes venus au monastère c’est que nous étions des publicains, que nous n’avions pas la pauvreté du coeur prêchée par Jésus, et que nous cherchions une voie de conversion.  Ce chemin de conversion nous l’avons trouvé dans la Règle de Benoît.  Nous étions trop petits pour voir Dieu, et nous sommes montés dans notre sycomore, nous lançant sans doute avec une ardeur de novices dans l’observance de tout ce qui pouvait nous rapprocher de Dieu.  Et puis, heureusement, un jour Jésus nous a dit : « Descends de ton sycomore.  Ce n’est pas du haut de ton ascèse et de ta vertu que tu peux voir Dieu.  C’est moi qui veux habiter chez toi, dans ton coeur. »   Si nous avons entendu cette parole, si nous l’avons laissée pénétrer en nos coeurs, elle y a créé chaque fois une attitude de componction, et surtout de partage. Si j’ai fait du tort à quelqu’un, je vais lui rendre quatre fois plus.

           Chaque fois que nous sommes fidèles à cet idéal de recherche de Dieu et de conversion, s’applique à nous la parole de Jésus qui termine l’Évangile que nous venons d’entendre : « Aujourd’hui, le salut est arrivé pour cette maison, car lui aussi est un fils d’Abraham.  En effet le Fils de l’homme est venu chercher et sauver ce qui était perdu.

Armand VEILLEUX

October 23, 2026 - Friday of the 29th week (even years)

Eph 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59 

Homily 

Today we finish reading the long chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel, which brings together a large number of teachings of Jesus given in different circumstances.  The fact that we do not know the circumstances in most cases makes it more difficult to interpret these stories.  Today's two little 'logia' are words of wisdom that can obviously be applied to any situation. 

In the first case, Jesus is speaking to farmers and probably also to fishermen in Galilee, who had learned to live in communion with nature and who knew how to predict, by looking at the clouds and examining the direction of the wind, what the weather would be like the next day (they were probably as accurate as our radio or TV weathermen who tell us at time that there is a 50% chance of good weather or a 50% chance of rain).) Jesus seems to admire their ability to predict the weather, and he reproaches them for not being as good at recognizing the weather in which they live.

Jesus therefore calls on his disciples to use their intelligence, experience and judgement to discern the signs of the times.  These signs do not reveal their meaning without serious and thorough analysis.  This is an essential aspect of the contemplative life - a contemplative activity.  The contemplative attitude consists in listening constantly to the Word of God.  God speaks to us through the Scriptures and Tradition, he speaks to each of our hearts, but he also speaks to us through the events of the life of the world and of the Church - what Vatican II calls the "signs of the times".

We, nuns and monks, who are not directly involved in the great works of Society and the Ecclesiastical Institution, and can look at the whole landscape with a certain distance, have a special responsibility to make this analysis.  It is not enough to pray for the world in general and to line up prayer intentions as accidents or calamities occur.  We have a duty to analyze these events with all the rigor required for discernment of such importance, in order to "recognize in them the moment in which we are", to use Jesus' expression.

When the world experiences human disasters of particular magnitude, it is perhaps, at least in part, because the "spiritual" have neglected this task and left it to the politicians, economists and military to do their own analysis.

Of course, it is also at the community and personal level that we must recognise the time in which we live, with its challenges and its graces.  And at this level too we cannot do without a serious analysis, both at the community and individual levels.  Let us constantly look at which way the clouds are rising and in which direction the wind is blowing! 

Armand VEILLEUX

24 October 2026 – Anniversary of the Consecration of the church of Scourmont

1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30; Acts 7:44-50; Luke 19:1-10

Homily

After building himself a magnificent palace, David decided – in what he undoubtedly considered a moment of great magnanimity – to also build a residence for God (‘Behold, I live in a cedar palace, and God lives in a tent!’) And God replied, ‘You will not build me a house; I will build you one.’

There is something similar in today's Gospel. Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus. Zacchaeus was not exactly a pious altar boy. He was a tax collector, and even the chief tax collector of Jericho. He was known in the city as a sinner. However, he had the heart of a child. He knew that Jesus was going to pass through his city and he wanted so much to see Him, that he forgot for a moment his importance and began to run like a child and climbed a tree to see Him.

What happened then? The roles were reversed. While Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, it was Jesus who saw Zacchaeus and looked at him with eyes full of love that transformed him. Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus in his sycamore tree and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.’ Jesus wants to enter Zacchaeus's home – not only his house, but his heart and his life, which is transformed.

We can then understand why Christian churches are not primarily houses of God, but houses of God's people, as saint Bernard reminded us in the text we read during the second nocturn of Vespers last night. This is because God does not want to dwell in houses made by human hands, but in the hearts of each one of us. ‘Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?’, saint Paul tells us.

It is because Christ dwells in our hearts that whenever two or three of us gather in the name of the Lord, He is there in our midst. And whenever we gather in our monastery church to express this communion in faith, love and hope through common prayer, we are the Church, we are the People of God, and Jesus is there, present among us. This, moreover, is the first form of Christ's real presence in the Church. And whenever we remember Him together in the Eucharistic celebration, He is there, present in all the fullness of His presence: the second form of real presence.

Is Zacchaeus not a little bit like each one of us? Or rather, are we not all a little bit like Zacchaeus? At the beginning of his Rule, Saint Benedict says that he wrote it for those who, having strayed from God through disobedience (or sin), wish to return to God through obedience. If we came to the monastery, it was because we were publicans, we did not have the poverty of heart preached by Jesus, and we were seeking a path to conversion. We found this path of conversion in the Rule of Benedict. We were too small to see God, so we climbed our sycamore tree, throwing ourselves with the ardour of novices into the observance of everything that could bring us closer to God. And then, fortunately, one day Jesus said to us: "Come down from your sycamore tree. It is not from the height of your asceticism and virtue that you can see God. It is I who want to dwell in you, in your heart." If we have heard these words, if we have let them penetrate our hearts, they have created in us an attitude of contrition and, above all, of sharing. If I have wronged someone, I will repay them fourfold.

Every time we are faithful to this ideal of seeking God and conversion, the words of Jesus that conclude the Gospel we have just heard apply to us: "Today salvation has come to this house, for he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Armand VEILLEUX

October 23, 2026 - Friday of the 29th week (even years)

Eph 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59 

Homily 

Today we finish reading the long chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel, which brings together a large number of teachings of Jesus given in different circumstances.  The fact that we do not know the circumstances in most cases makes it more difficult to interpret these stories.  Today's two little 'logia' are words of wisdom that can obviously be applied to any situation. 

In the first case, Jesus is speaking to farmers and probably also to fishermen in Galilee, who had learned to live in communion with nature and who knew how to predict, by looking at the clouds and examining the direction of the wind, what the weather would be like the next day (they were probably as accurate as our radio or TV weathermen who tell us at time that there is a 50% chance of good weather or a 50% chance of rain).) Jesus seems to admire their ability to predict the weather, and he reproaches them for not being as good at recognizing the weather in which they live.

Jesus therefore calls on his disciples to use their intelligence, experience and judgement to discern the signs of the times.  These signs do not reveal their meaning without serious and thorough analysis.  This is an essential aspect of the contemplative life - a contemplative activity.  The contemplative attitude consists in listening constantly to the Word of God.  God speaks to us through the Scriptures and Tradition, he speaks to each of our hearts, but he also speaks to us through the events of the life of the world and of the Church - what Vatican II calls the "signs of the times".

We, nuns and monks, who are not directly involved in the great works of Society and the Ecclesiastical Institution, and can look at the whole landscape with a certain distance, have a special responsibility to make this analysis.  It is not enough to pray for the world in general and to line up prayer intentions as accidents or calamities occur.  We have a duty to analyze these events with all the rigor required for discernment of such importance, in order to "recognize in them the moment in which we are", to use Jesus' expression.

When the world experiences human disasters of particular magnitude, it is perhaps, at least in part, because the "spiritual" have neglected this task and left it to the politicians, economists and military to do their own analysis.

Of course, it is also at the community and personal level that we must recognise the time in which we live, with its challenges and its graces.  And at this level too we cannot do without a serious analysis, both at the community and individual levels.  Let us constantly look at which way the clouds are rising and in which direction the wind is blowing! 

Armand VEILLEUX

21 octobre 2026 --Mercredi de la 29ème semaine du TO

Ep 3, 2-12 ; Lc 12, 39-48

Homélie

Nous devons être prêts - non pas parce que la mort peut nous visiter à chaque instant ; non pas parce que la fin du monde peut survenir à chaque instant.  Nous devons être prêts pour l'arrivée du Seigneur car il vient toujours.  Il est l'Emmanuel, qui est toujours avec nous, car il vient toujours nous visiter.

Cette préparation nous est présentée par l'Évangile non pas comme quelque chose de purement individuel, mais plutôt comme une responsabilité ecclésiale.  Jésus ne dit pas : « quand le maître viendra, tu devras laisser derrière toi toutes tes occupations pour faire la purification finale de ta propre âme ».  Non.  Jésus dit : "Heureux l'intendant fidèle et avisé qui n'oublie pas son intendance".

Nous ne possédons rien.  Nous sommes des intendants.  Nous ne possédons pas la foi, nous l'avons reçue comme un trésor que nous devons partager.  Être des témoins est une dimension de notre mission en tant que chrétiens.

Même notre propre charisme religieux ne nous appartient pas.  Il appartient, comme tout charisme, à tout le peuple de Dieu.  Nous ne sommes que ses administrateurs et nous devons rendre compte de notre administration de ce charisme non seulement à Dieu mais à tout le peuple de Dieu.  

Tous ces charismes, nous les avons reçus non pas pour les cacher dans la terre et les rendre intacts au Maître plus tard, mais nous les avons reçus avec la mission de les faire fructifier.

Le plus grand don de tous, nous le recevons dans cette Eucharistie que nous célébrons.  Nous recevons l'amour du Christ pour nous sous la forme de son corps et de sa nourriture.  Cet amour aussi est un trésor dont nous ne sommes que les gardiens.  Nous ne le recevons pas pour le conserver uniquement dans le secret de notre cœur.  Nous le recevons pour le communiquer comme un feu qui doit embraser tout et tous ceux qui nous entourent.

Armand Veilleux

October 23, 2026 - Friday of the 29th week (even years)

Eph 4:1-6; Luke 12:54-59 

Homily 

Today we finish reading the long chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel, which brings together a large number of teachings of Jesus given in different circumstances.  The fact that we do not know the circumstances in most cases makes it more difficult to interpret these stories.  Today's two little 'logia' are words of wisdom that can obviously be applied to any situation. 

In the first case, Jesus is speaking to farmers and probably also to fishermen in Galilee, who had learned to live in communion with nature and who knew how to predict, by looking at the clouds and examining the direction of the wind, what the weather would be like the next day (they were probably as accurate as our radio or TV weathermen who tell us at time that there is a 50% chance of good weather or a 50% chance of rain).) Jesus seems to admire their ability to predict the weather, and he reproaches them for not being as good at recognizing the weather in which they live.

Jesus therefore calls on his disciples to use their intelligence, experience and judgement to discern the signs of the times.  These signs do not reveal their meaning without serious and thorough analysis.  This is an essential aspect of the contemplative life - a contemplative activity.  The contemplative attitude consists in listening constantly to the Word of God.  God speaks to us through the Scriptures and Tradition, he speaks to each of our hearts, but he also speaks to us through the events of the life of the world and of the Church - what Vatican II calls the "signs of the times".

We, nuns and monks, who are not directly involved in the great works of Society and the Ecclesiastical Institution, and can look at the whole landscape with a certain distance, have a special responsibility to make this analysis.  It is not enough to pray for the world in general and to line up prayer intentions as accidents or calamities occur.  We have a duty to analyze these events with all the rigor required for discernment of such importance, in order to "recognize in them the moment in which we are", to use Jesus' expression.

When the world experiences human disasters of particular magnitude, it is perhaps, at least in part, because the "spiritual" have neglected this task and left it to the politicians, economists and military to do their own analysis.

Of course, it is also at the community and personal level that we must recognise the time in which we live, with its challenges and its graces.  And at this level too we cannot do without a serious analysis, both at the community and individual levels.  Let us constantly look at which way the clouds are rising and in which direction the wind is blowing! 

Armand VEILLEUX