• Home
  • About
    • Monastic Life
    • Gallery
    • History
      • Holy Cross Abbey
      • Cistercian Order
      • Property and Battlefield
    • FAQs
    • Videos
  • Take Part
    • Pray with us
    • Visit
      • Service Times
      • Directions
    • Vocation
    • Lay Members
  • Vocation
  • Retreat House
    • Testimonials
  • Cemetery
    • Overview
    • Stones
    • Rules Overview
    • Pricing
  • Store
    • Gift Shop / Porter’s Cottage
    • Bakery Products
    • Webstore
  • Updates
    • News
    • Liturgy
    • Abbot’s Lectio Post
  • Contact

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane Berryville, Virginia 22611

Support Us
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Sunday, 18 March, 2012: 4th Sunday of Lent, Year B

March 17, 2012 by James

The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM: Abbot Robert Barnes will preside and preach. The Fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as “Laetare Sunday” from the Introit: “Rejoice, Jerusalem”. We have arrived at a point in Lent when we shift the focus from repentence and conversion from sin to the joy of redemption.

Perhaps it’s worth recalling that in most European languages, “Lent” is called “The Forty Days”. Our English word “Lent” is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon word for early Spring. Spring was the time when our ancestors ate the last supplies from the previous harvest, when they tightened their belts, turned the earth and sowed the precious seed saved from the previous year for the new growth. We can look at the traditional Lenten fast and self-mortifications not as gloom and punishment but as our ploughing and tilling and planting, our work and sweat, to prepare for the bounty to come. As St. Benedict wrote in Chapter 49 of his Rule, we look forward to the holy joy of Easter.

Share

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: News

Contact Retreat House

For Guest House reservations
information@hcava.org
540-955-4383

Documentary Trailer

Watch the full-length documentary on the videos page.

More Video

Support Us with a Donation

Contact Us

Newsletter Signup

Holy Cross Abbey

901 Cool Spring Lane
Berryville, Virginia 22611-2700
Phone: (540) 955-4383

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Quicklinks

  • Cemetery
  • Retreats
  • Directions
  • Links
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Get Involved

  • Pray with us
  • Visit
  • Vocation
  • Support Us

Copyright © Holy Cross Abbey - All Rights Reserved
Website Development and Management by MarketSpark
Maintenance Log -  Webmail -  Admin