Publications
The Continuum: Cistercian’s bi-annual magazine for family, friends and alumni of Cistercian
When The Continuum was first published as the newsletter for Cistercian alumni, the editors wanted to indicate by the title that continuity links the life of a student with his life after Cistercian. Alumni were still interested in the school, its faculty and its programs, and they wanted to keep up with the lives of their fellow alums. Every student was marked forever by the people they knew at Cistercian.
Today, the need for connection has grown. We want to connect the school’s current families and students with Cistercian students who have already graduated and their families. Likewise, we want alumni to maintain ties, not only with their former teachers and classmates, but also with the new generation of devoted Cistercian faculty and students.
As with all relationships, we must work at preserving and building the bond. We can lose touch with even our dearest friends when we no longer share activities, interests, concerns, and goals. Alumni go to their various colleges, pursue their chosen degrees and professions, and raise their own families. Families once so close because they chaperoned a party together after a football game or cheered the Hawks on during a basketball game can find themselves searching for the occasion to keep friendships going once their sons graduate from Cistercian. The Continuum, we hope, will be one such ‘occasion’ for the entire Cistercian family.
Visit the Continuum Archives to read more.
Reflections
Cistercian’s award-winning literary magazine is produced by a club of students who are passionate about creative expression. This extra-curricular group meets twice a week to gather creative projects from the entire school—from the imaginative tales and drawings of Middle Schoolers to the sophisticated poetry and artwork of upperclassmen. Our tradition is to encourage every student to submit work for publication in Reflections, and every student gets a copy of the printed magazine in August. This year, however, we’re starting a new tradition: posting a digital copy of the magazine online.
For our graduating seniors who might otherwise miss seeing their literary or artistic talents showcased, and for any student who may want to share a published story with distant relatives, we hope you enjoy this online version of Reflections.
A Word to Enkindle
Thy Kingdom Come
The more I reflect on the petitions of the Our Father, the more I’m convinced that I have no idea what I’m praying when I mumble those words multiple times every day.
The current object of my loving mystification is “Thy kingdom come.” In an effort to be slightly less intimidated by this vast and marvelous petition, I will arrange my musings as responses to the time-honored journalistic questions.
Lessons learned in a monastery
One of the most important rooms in a monastery, after the church, is the chapter room. This is the place where monks meet to do various things as a community: hear an exhortation from their abbot; listen to a spiritual reading (often a chapter from “The Rule of St. Benedict”); deliberate and vote on the important material and spiritual questions that arise in a monastery, such as who should be the abbot, whether to welcome a young monk as a permanent member of the community through solemn profession, and how best to structure their lives to promote God’s purpose.
Calling upon the hallowed name of the Lord
Jesus poses a problem when He instructs us to pray to the Father with the words “hallowed be Thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Many Psalms exhort the faithful to praise or call upon the name of the LORD (Psalm 113:1; 116:13; 148:13), and others assert that “Our help is in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 124:8). But how can human beings hallow — that is, make holy — the name of the LORD (in Hebrew, YHWH), Who is already, always, and automatically holy, utterly beyond our ability to add to or subtract from, to influence or change?
Herod’s trial of conscience
The death of John the Baptist is a chilling story for multiple reasons. It is a story about the fury of Herodias, who hated John so much for speaking the truth about marriage that she manipulated Herod, her would-be husband, into murdering him. It is also a story about the weakness of Herod, who just waited too long to do what he knew was right – to the point that doing the right thing required a sacrifice he felt incapable of making.
Reflections on heaven in the Lord’s Prayer
“I want to go to heaven” is a common expression by Christians when asked to give a reason for their faith. Curiously, the phrase “to go” or “to get to heaven” is not found in the Bible. While heaven is rightly considered the goal and magnetic pull on everyone’s spiritual compass, it is neither a destination nor a physical place as Jesus presents it in the “Our Father” prayer.
Reflecting upon technology and prayer in our lives
Technology is everywhere. There seems to be a gadget or app for everything. Computers for calculating; engines for ease; chemicals for control — is there any aspect of our lives untouched by instruments and processes?
Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer, Our Father
The Our Father is the most familiar of all Christian prayers. Its constant recitation inevitably leads to a glazing of our mental eyes, rendering us numb to the shocking permission Jesus grants us in the opening words. He invites us, even requires us, to claim familiarity with God. “Pray like this,” Jesus tells those gathered for His Sermon on the Mount: “Our Father, who art in Heaven…” (Matthew 6:9).
Understanding Church teachings and defending the dignity of life
"Understanding Church teachings and defending the dignity of life" by Fr. John for The Texas Catholic. As another election concludes, Catholics should remember we are responsible for helping to unify our country. One way to do that is to announce together the Church’s...
Silence and the Word
When Moses asks God to provide a name that he might share with the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, “God replied to Moses: ‘I am who I am.’ Then He added: ‘This is what you will tell the Israelites: I am has sent me to you.’ God spoke further to Moses: ‘This is what you will say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14-15).
What is a man? Discovering masculinity through faith, humility
What is a man? That’s a wonderful question that seems difficult to raise without provoking strong reactions.