Many have inquired about attending St. Benedict for the Rest of Us which will be held at the Retreat House Chapel on April 17th. Their inquiries have ranged from ‘ how do I register’ (answer: by sending email to companions@virginiatrappists.org) to ‘can the Rule of St. Benedict really apply to me? Can I really use […]
Special Events and MIWs Scheduled for 2016
The community is pleased to announce the scheduling of special events and retreats for 2016. For information on any of these events or to register to attend, send email to companions@virginiatrappists.org or call 540-955-4604…this year we will have two Monastic Immersion Weekends, an event on monastic life for those not called as monks and nuns […]
Fr. Joseph’s Homily for Christmas Day
Readings: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 Although Midnight Mass can pose problems for parents with young children, as sleep patterns are disturbed by staying up late, or waking up in the middle of the night, from a liturgical point of view it might be worth the effort–at least as far as the scripture readings […]
CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE
The Night Mass, Christmas Eve, Thursday, 24 December, 2015/ 8:00 PM: Christmas Carols sung by Madeline MacNeil accompanying herself on the hammered dulcimer Christmas Eve, Thursday, 24 December, 2015/8:30 PM Christmas Night Mass integrated with Vigils, Abbot Robert presiding and preaching The Day Mass, Christmas Day, Friday, 25 December, 2015 11:00 AM: The Christmas […]
2016 Abbey Calendars are In
Here’s a terrible, blurry photo of the cover of the new calendar for 2016. You can acquire a copy or copies (Christmas remember!) by sending a check for $15 for each calendar to the abbey with “calendar sales” on the envelope. We will rush them out to you as soon as we get them to […]
The Monk as a Marginal Person, Part 3
In the last installment we were considering an insight from an essay on Thomas Merton (“Man of Prayer”) by Br. David Steindel-Rast. Cultivating a life of prayer is not a procedural technology. It is not getting from this starting point, constructing something new that will then function according to expectations and produce an anticipated result. […]
Merton Lecture at HCA
Fr. James Orthmann keynoted the Merton at 100 lecture Sunday November 15th. Well over 60 people came to the Retreat House Chapel for a talk called “Monk as Marginal Person.” Fr. James suggested that this simple reference, that Merton made in his last talk in Thailand, was less an indictment of monks for having left the […]
Thomas Merton at 100: Have American Catholics Changed?
I imagine, though I’m not sure of this, that most of our readers actually remember when Thomas Merton was alive and living at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. You may remember noting when his next book was published, what the reviewers said and how quickly you purchased your own copy. If you still have that original […]
Merton Event-some details
If you registered for the Merton event on November 15th and now find you can’t make it, please send email to companions@virginiatrappists.org and let us know. We have a waiting list of 50 people who would like to attend, so if you are not going to make it please inform us so we can give […]
“Saving Grace, Saving Place”: Another Event at Holy Cross Abbey, Saturday, 7 November
Some of you will recall the event we had in August, to introduce the film Saving Grace, Saving Place. If you wanted to attend then but were unavailable, you have another opportunity this Saturday, 7 November to meet the film makers. The event will begin at 2:30 PM in the Abbey Church; Abbot Robert Barnes […]