Remembering the Monk Who Wrote About Grace

Last week Father James Behrens, OCSO died suddenly. He was 71 years old.

Father James had been a Catholic priest for 45 years and a Trappist monk for 25 years. He was a talented man — a gifted photographer, a thoughtful preacher and an insightful writer. He had a beautiful singing and speaking voice, and even though he was a smoker, whatever effect the tobacco had on his voice only seemed to deepen it.

I met Fr. James in November 2005 — on the first day I worked at the Abbey Store of the Mona...