In this wretched and toilsome life, it is essential that Martha be present in our house—that is to say, that our soul attend to physical activities.  For as long as we have a need to eat and drink, we have a need to labor.  As long as we are tempted by physical delights, we have […]

My Lord Jesus was silent before the scribes and Pharisees when they accused him, silent before his judges when they questioned him, silent before those who punished him with torture and crucifixion.    Even today, he is silent before the wicked and shameless men who challenge him every day and every hour.  If this is so, […]

Truly, Lord, you are become our refuge; I have fled to you, teach me your will and make me do it.  You have had compassion on the people that followed you into the wilderness.  You have had pity and have provided food, lest they faint by the way.  I have begun to follow you, my […]

The Father has different arrangements for each.  For we did not choose him but he chose us and appointed places for us; and in the place of each one’s appointment there he is too.  Thus one repentant woman was allotted a place at the feet of the Lord Jesus, another—if she really is another—found fulfillment for her […]

“Arise, be enlightened, Jerusalem, for your Light has come.”  This present day of lights has been enlightened for us and consecrated by the Light of Light.  He has lain hidden and unknown, but today he has vouchsafed to reveal himself to the world for the enlightenment of all nations.  For today he revealed himself to […]

Although he came to us as a little child, what he brought is not little, what he conferred on us is not little.  If you ask what he brought: first of all he  brought mercy, according to which, as the Apostle testifies, he saved us.  Nor does this benefit only those he found when he […]

After completing a six-month postulancy Br. Paul Smith had the joy of receiving the Cistercian Novice’s Habit—thereby beginning his formal canonical novitiate. The so-called “clothing of the novice” is a special event in the life of the monk (and of the community) as we each recall our own reception of the habit and renew our […]

By the wonderful favor of God’s loving care, in this solitude of ours we have the peace of solitude and yet we do not lack the consolation and comfort of holy companionship.  It is possible for each of us to sit alone and be silent, because we have no one to disturb us with interruptions, and yet it […]

Seventy years ago, today, the founding monks of Holy Cross Abbey arrived in Virginia from our Motherhouse in Massachusetts. We were founded at a time when great numbers of young men were entering our monasteries. Indeed, our founding was a consequence of this happy phenomenon that stands in such marked contrast to the smaller numbers […]