Since last Thursday, all the Superiors of our monks and nuns are meeting at New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa. Where’s that?, you may ask. With some dismay, I’ve learned that some East Costers have no idea what lies west of Pennsylvania and once heard someone say, when they heard “Iowa” mentioned, “Oh, where I come from, […]

The community mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching.

As most of you realize, we have celebrated two funerals only three weeks apart here at Holy Cross Abbey. At Fr. Malachy’s funeral, Fr. Robert observed that both funerals reminded us that life and death are not in our hands. Br. Benedict was believed to be very close to death for the last five years […]

Br. Edward has been moved to the Hospice Nursing Home on Cork Street in Winchester as a transition from his twelve days in the hospital to a return home at the Abbey. He is on a course of antibiotics and physical therapy; his digestive problems are connected with a hiatal hernia he has suffered with […]

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…I go to prepare a place for you. We are here today to pray for the soul of our Fr. Malachy, that the Lord in his great mercy may bring our brother into the fullness of life promised to those who seek God above all else. Father […]

During this time of Lent each one is to receive a book from the library and is to read the whole of it straight through. These books are to be distributed at the beginning of Lent.  St. Bendict’s Rule for Monasteries, Chapter 48  You don’t have to be a nun or a monk to profit from […]

The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. When St. Benedict composed his Rule for monasteries, the Church still followed the primitive custom of beginning Lent on the First Sunday of Lent. It would take a few centuries before Ash Wednesday was introduced. Here at Holy Cross, we follow the […]

Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance;  That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes?  Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:  releasing those bound unjustly, untying the […]

Our faithful brother, Father Malachy, was laid to rest in the monastic cemetery yesterday surrounded by his family of monks, friends and neighbors.  Beneath a beautiful, clear sky and mild temperatures, the mass was offered by the Abbot and internment followed next to his brothers that have been called home to God. After 65 years […]

Br. Edward has had an uncomfortable week in the hospital. A blockage was found in his lower track and Br. Edward will have to stay in the hospital. It had been hoped earlier that he could be transferred to the hospice facility on Cork Street in Winchester for care to strengthen him up for his […]