Sometimes I will stay home to sleep, then return to the monastery in time for Vigils at 3:30 am.  Most people think I’m nuts for getting up at 2 am, but it is my favorite time of the night/day…not much going on.  Even the coffee tastes better at that time. Some mornings God rewards me with something special.  Occasionally […]

In a new short paper we have produced for people on retreat in the Guest House which we call “What’s Going On Up There?” we give our guests a look inside the monastery and especially the Divine Office.  The paper summarizes the monastic day, talks about how a monk spends his time and gives insight […]

The Retreat House currently has good availability  for September weekends and weekdays.  Come see the beginning of the changing of the leaves in the Shenandoah Valley in Autumn. Carol is waiting to hear from you by telephone:  540-955-4383 or e-mail: information@hcava.org.

Spring newsletter with stuff about the Monastic Immersion Week, retreat house, vegetable operation and a wonderful interview with Fr. Paschal is coming to your mailbox soon.  Look for it to arrive starting sometime next week.  And if you don’t get your copy in a couple of weeks send us an email at companions@virginiatrappists.org to make sure […]

Your humble correspondent has been away for a while taking care of some medical stuff (getting old is not fun) and was wonderfully surprised upon his return today to find the refectory full!  My goodness folks we’re bursting at the seams!  With three men discerning now, another on his way (no way Jim can escape all […]

  The white choir shirts made our Monastic Immersion Week participants stand out, though, obviously not in choir.  After a full week of activity including conferences with the monks, meals and prayer together, all seemed quite happy with their week of immersing in the monastic life of Our Lady of the Holy Cross.   In […]

“I didn’t expect this heat,” is the way one MIW participant responded to the ‘how’s it going check in.’  Thankfully the Retreat House is air conditioned…it’s been warm here along the Shenandoah River. The ten folks here for this intense week are a varied group coming from as far away as Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and […]

In this first week of Easter, it is good to remind ourselves, as Father Louis does here in Thoughts in Solitude, just how important our reliance on God is to our well-being: MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know […]

Eleven folks are joining the community for a Monastic Immersion Week starting Monday. Coming from as far away as Texas, folks of all shapes and sizes will spend a week ‘immersed’ in the contemplative life of community.  Pray for a fruitful week for participants and monks.