Crying wolf or "coywolf" ?

This week, Br. David Bryan continues his mission trip in Toronto, ON. Our postulant Jeff Costello moves from his pre-clothing leave (akin to a vacation) to his pre-clothing retreat (still at St Mary's House up the driveway). Br. Leonard arrived Thursday from Toronto to be present at next week's installation of Br. Ephrem as OHC's new Superior. For the same reason, our three intially professed Brothers from Harkerville, South Africa, arrived on Friday. It is starting to feel like a family reunion (not unlike at our annual chapter meetings).

This week, also saw the return of our hardy volunteeers after our August recess. Thank God for all the work they get done in support of our monastic lives and ministries.

Monastery peeps. From top left, clockwise: Associate Susan Barbarisi working with Br. John in the monastic library: old friends reunion (Br. Scott lived with our South African Brothers for several years) from left, Bros. Mpumelelo, Aelred, Scott (in front) and Josias; OHC Brothers Made in Africa, Bros. Mpumelelo, Aelred and Leonard; Br. Jacob transplanting a basil plant (2 pictures); Bros. Jacob and Bernard and more non-pictured enjoyin s'mores round our fire pit.

On Tuesday, we observed the feast day of David Pendleton Oakerhater, the first Native American saint in the Episcopal Church. This week, we hosted a retreat led by the Rev, Masud Ibn Syedullah, TSSF* and the neuro-scientist, Dr. Vladimir Miskovic on "Cultivating Loving Presence: Spirituality, Science and the Whole Human Being." Br. Bernard was blessed to attend. Subjects such a consciousness, awareness, neuro-modulation and the spiritual journey were discussed. Masud and Vladimir will repeat this program at the convent of our St John the Baptist sisters in Mendham, NJ, in November.

Monastery visitors. From top left, clockwise: an icon of David Pendleton Oakerhater in the entrance to St Augustine church; Vladimir Miskovic and Masud Ibn Syedullah leading the "Cultivating Loving Presence" retreat; lingering incense smoke caught in midday rays of sunshine; guests resting in the Gueshouse gardens; a mystery quadruped spotted in the meadow.

This past week, our Br. Randy captured the photo above of what appeared to us as a grey wolf. However, a Google search delivers the following on wolves in the mid-Hudson valley.

There are no established populations of wild, pure wolves roaming the Mid-Hudson Valley. Native gray wolves were extirpated from the Hudson Valley region by European settlers in the late 17th and early 18th centuries due to hunting and habitat loss. While occasional wandering wolves can be spotted, DNA tests proves it is rare. Genetic dispersals occasionally show up in upstate New York (such as the Adirondacks or near Canada), sightings in the Mid-Hudson area are almost exclusively large local canines. Eastern Coyotes are frequently mistaken for wolves, local coyotes often carry some historical wolf DNA from northern breeding corridors and can grow quite large (sometimes colloquially called "coywolves").

What do you think? Did Br. Randy spot an occasional wandering grey wolf or a "coywolf?"

Blessings and every good to you.

* The religious suffix TSSF stands for the Third Order of the Society of St. Francis.

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18 A, September 6, 2026

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY

Br. Randy Greve

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, September 6, 2026

Exodus 12:1-14

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

Click here for an audio of the sermon

Our gospel is, on one level, a process for addressing faults and conflicts within the community of believers.  It is so different a way of making amends from much of our public discourse (which does not seem to care much for amends) as to seem laughably unrealistic and naive.  If we take this reading seriously, then we can ask, what does this kind of relating mean?  Where does it come from and what informs such behavior?  What kind of people are we called to be in order to actualize these practices?   So, I endeavor to reflect on just the first act: If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
Life gathered in the name of Christ is life in truth, in reality.  Set in the midst of all manner of lies and illusions, deceit and fantasy, we are to be truth-bearers so that we can be practitioners of reality, so that truth becomes who we are.  Spiritual life is not an escape into some alternate reality; it is the entering into the essence of truth which forms all of life.  We are vowed in such a way that avoidance, excuses, rationalizations, and any other form of discernment that is not true and real find no home in us.  Our baptismal liturgy describes this identity as both renouncing the sources and systems of evil and injustice in us and around us and the affirmation of the truth of Christ’s saving power for us and through us as a body.  We practice our identities in such a way that we face what is real rather than run, name what is happening rather than deny.  
What our Lord proscribes here is the practice of our human experience within conscious community.  This way subverts the impulses of punishment and vengeance and orients power as that commitment to the good which expresses itself as for and alongside others, never over or against others.  It is actively nonviolent.  It describes what is the case about us: sometimes I perceive some aspect of the truth that you do not.  Sometimes you are aware of a reality to which I am blind.  So, we need community as the realm in which we offer the gift of our insight and receive the feedback of others.
As our desire turns into deeper acts of love and trust, we encounter our inner resistances.  We all have baggage around sin, forgiveness, and reconciliation.  We have been hurt and we have caused hurt.  Pointing out someone’s fault may hurt their feelings, or they may attack me, our relationship may be harmed.  I don’t want to be judgmental.  It’s not a big deal.  I may also discover beliefs toward my own sin: it’s easier to hide than confess, if the community knew what I had done, they would reject me.  If I am honest, some may look down on me.  These beliefs inhibit common life.  Facing truth liberates us from the besetting distortions that pollute relationships.  Hiding and avoiding might feel safe, but they are flimsy substitutes for the kinds of flourishing relationships we long for.  We must go through the resistance to experience the renewal on the other side.  Living in a community requires the willingness and capacity to live and speak truth for the sake of the health of the whole body, sometimes evoking out of us an honest vulnerability.  My discomfort bows to the greater needs of community harmony.  
This counsel is the liturgy of mercy made visible and ordinary.  The sinner is invited to act from the belief that their sin is unavoidable and real, but not permanent.  Forgiveness really does wipe the slate clean because the community believes and practices that beginning again.  It is dangerous to lead an unconfronted life.  The naming of our errant ways is a gift of grace which we can receive as such.  The truth-teller is invited to act from the belief that although real harm has been done, it can be healed, trust can be restored, and the sword of vengeance must be laid down.  A healthy community is made up of people willing to face their truth and name the truth of others in service of the good of our souls and the integrity of life together.
We are called to be ourselves without performance or pretense, which includes gifts and wounds.  Assemblies of the guarded and defended, where secrets are well-hidden and bitterness carefully concealed under a mask of mere polite friendliness is not the new creation we are made to be.  
Communities caught in the web of defending and rationalizing, blaming and avoiding will expend all their energy on preserving the illusion of independence because the fear of being truly seen and known is not safe or welcome.  Such places are a kind of self-created hell of refusing to be fully human.
What would it be like to live where every member of a community can be seen and known, and can participate in the salvation drama of falling short and beginning again without partiality and with sincere absolution?  The Lord asks us to do something that may sound strange; normalize the inevitability of sin and the beauty of conscious forgiveness and reconciliation.  Faults and failure are not threats to an integrated community, not signs to withdraw and hide - they are opportunities for vulnerable trust in the reality of being imperfect image-bearers.  Lead us into all truth, Lord Christ, and help us love one another as you love us. Amen.