At the monastery, we pray all 150 psalms in a two-week cycle because they were Jesus’ hymnbook. Today’s psalm is terribly repetitious: Various phrases keep saying the same thing—be obedient, walk...

Rebekah and Isaac were in love, but she was barren. Yet she was not unique; throughout scripture, key roles are played by women who are barren—Hannah the mother of Samuel the...

As we read these beautiful verses we note a paradox. We are called to God when we feel weary and burdened but then are invited to put on a yoke. How...

There is a growing rift between Jesus and his beloved cousin John who is the first to hail Jesus as Messiah, baptizes him, and sets his feet on the path of...

Even amid love’s fulfillment, the Song of Solomon offers a grave warning: “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards” (2:15). Sometimes “the little foxes” erode our relationships,...

Today we read another love story, symbolically placed in the exact middle of the Protestant Bible with its meaning central to our life with God. This splendid anthem, sometimes called Song...

Today’s reading tells us of the fulfillment of this courtship, but the story continues in the hearts of lovers. It is the story of God’s call and the human heart. An...

How does Rebekah feel about this startling encounter at the well? There, on an ordinary day, taking her ordinary trudge to fill the water jugs, suddenly she meets a travel-stained stranger...

As this week opens near June’s end, a traditional month of committed love and marriage, our first four days center on two great love stories in scripture. In this first story,...

Today’s brief passage from the teachings of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel contains a simple and straightforward message: In the life of discipleship we find fulfillment by turning outward from self and...