• 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

Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

March 19, 2023 by Fr Joseph

“So near and yet so far,” is an expression sometimes used to describe a situation in which the attainment of a desired goal seems very close, yet just out of reach. Perhaps this describes the Scribe (in today’s gospel) whom Jesus assures is not far from the Kingdom of God. Like us he knows what […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Friday of the First Week of Lent

March 3, 2023 by Fr Joseph

Ezekiel 18:21 – 28 & Matthew 5:20 – 26 The theme of our first reading evokes some of the controversies implicated in the Protestant Reformation concerning faith and good works. Unlike some retirement fund that allows one to stop working and enjoy the fruit of one’s labors, virtues and good works cannot be similarly accumulated […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Saturday of the 6th Week of the Year

February 18, 2023 by Fr Joseph

We are so used to considering faith primarily as that by which we believe what we cannot yet see or touch. As such, faith relates to something intangible and out of our grasp. However, the Letter to the Hebrews suggests that this perception needs to be qualified. Faith is the realization of what is hoped […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Friday of the 2nd Week

January 21, 2023 by Fr Joseph

Investing money in a business you know is doomed to fail, makes no economic sense. Similarly, donating money to a charity known to misappropriate its funds is foolhardy. Yet, that is what God seems to do with us when it comes to his love, grace, and choice. Given God’s foreknowledge, we may wonder why Judas […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Saint Anthony of the Desert

January 17, 2023 by Fr Joseph

There is a world of difference between allowing an exception to an otherwise reasonable divine law, rule, or religious practice for a good reason, and doing so with a casual, negligent, or indolent disregard for such a law or religious practice. For, although the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Saint Hilary of Poitiers

January 13, 2023 by Fr Joseph

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews seems to betray a rather sketchy knowledge of scripture with his vague comment that God has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, namely that God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Identifying this quote from Genesis along with the ability to […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent

December 15, 2022 by Fr Joseph

Isaiah’s images of the barren, deserted, and childless wife, and the wife who has both a husband and children, can be understood as images reflecting the work of grace in the case of the former, and unaided human effort in the case of the latter. However, the now more numerous children of the formerly barren […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Feast of Saint Francis Xavier

December 3, 2022 by Fr Joseph

Christ’s call to follow him implies walking behind him and tracing his footsteps—as it were. However, while this is surely true in the early stages of discipleship, a verse from our first reading suggests that this initial following becomes a “walking with” Jesus, rather than following on behind him. For in assuring us that our […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Saint Teresa of Jesus

October 15, 2022 by Fr Joseph

Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is an extreme version of our constant thwarting or quenching the Holy Spirit—something Saint Paul warned against. And whereas blaspheming against the Holy Spirit almost has to be conscious, our quenching or thwarting the Holy Spirit is often unconscious. Our struggle towards that seemingly elusive goal of continuous prayer, is […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Wednesday of the 27th Week

October 5, 2022 by Fr Joseph

Given his triple denial of Christ and his apparent moral cowardice—as exemplified in today’s first reading—Peter seems an unlikely candidate for sainthood. However, there is one thing that explains why he became Saint Peter: And that is that he was able to accept correction and reproof without making excuses for his behavior or trying to […]

Filed Under: Abbot's Lectio Post

Next Page »

History

  • Holy Cross Abbey
  • Cistercian Order
  • Property and Battlefield

Continue Reading

  • About
  • History
    • Holy Cross Abbey
    • Cistercian Order
    • Property and Battlefield
  • FAQs
  • Videos

Take part

  • Pray with us – The Divine Office
  • Visit
  • Vocation
  • Lay Members

Visit

  • Pray with us
    • Service Times
  • Retreat House
  • Gift Shop
  • Cemetery
  • Directions
  • Contact

Schedule of Services

Weekdays
3:30 - Vigils
7:00 - Lauds
~7:25 - Mass, after Lauds
10:00 - Terce (private)
12:20 - Sext
2:00 - None
5:30 - Vespers
7:30 - Compline

Sundays
3:30 - Vigils
7:00 - Lauds
9:50 - Terce
10:00 - Mass
12:20 - Sext
2:00 - None (private)
5:30 - Vespers
7:30 - Compline

Testimonials

Many, many thanks to Holy Cross Abbey and all the monks for being a beacon of light and hope in our world. I am so very, very grateful for being able to come for yearly retreats. That time with God nourishes me throughout the year, always.

-Dawn Peck, Lexington, VA


Read More Testimonials

Contact Cemetery

info@coolspringnaturalcemetery.org
540-955-4461

Email is preferred.

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

Like our Facebook page

Like our Facebook page

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