On this great Feast of our Savior’s Birth, we wish you all the love, joy, and peace our Newborn Savior brings. May his comforting and protecting presence accompany and sustain you all in the year ahead. We thank you for your kind Christmas greetings, prayers, and unfailing generosity to our community. Abbot Joseph and the […]
Retreat House Closed for the Christmas Holidays
The Retreat House will be closed from 23 through 31 December; reservations are closed for 21 through 30 December. This break will allow our employees to have a holiday with their families and allow time for certain maintenance projects to be completed.
Reflection for 17 December
Readings: Genesis 49:2, 8-10; Matthew 1:1-17 If the problematic personalities forming the lineage of Jesus aren’t familiar to you, it’s well worth your effort to thumb through the Second Book of Kings and check out some of these characters. And however genuine his royal ancestry may be, Jesus was never crowned by anything but that […]
Fraters sold out; plenty of fruitcakes left
Our popular chocolate-covered fruitcake muffins are sold out and won’t be available until the New Year. To those hoping to purchase these delicacies, we apologize, and trust that some of the other items we sell will serve as worthy substitutes. Please be assured that there is still a plenteous supply of our Truffles and fruitcakes—both […]
Last Minute Openings at the Retreat House for this Week
This week, we have an unusual partial week schedule at the Retreat House, open from Wednesday at 3:00 PM through Friday, 9:30 AM, 12 to 14 December; due to cancellations, there are now some last minute openings for anyone who realizes that they need some retreat time before the holiday madness. To book a reservation, […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for December
A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. Before anything else I think we should consider the grace of the desert, the blessedness of the desert, which right from the beginning of grace has deserved to be consecrated to the repose of the saints. The voice of one crying […]
Reflection for Wednesday of the 34th Week
Readings: Revelation 15:1-4; Luke 21:12-19 Today’s Gospel reminds us of what we may not wish to know: that catastrophe is part of human life, part of discipleship. Not even the Lord who calls us guarantees a smooth path. Catastrophe is not an index of poor choices, just as “success” is not an index of my […]
Unexpected Openings at the Retreat House, 18-21 December
Due to a group cancellation, nine rooms are now available in the Retreat House, Monday, 17 December through the morning of Friday, 21 December. By the way, those are the evenings that we chant the Solemn or “O Antiphons” with the Magnificat at Vespers. If you had earlier tried to reserve a room at that […]
Christmas Schedule 2018
Christmas Eve, Monday, 24 December Vigils, Lauds, Mass, Sext, and None follow the usual Monday times 5:30 PM–First Vespers of Christmas 7:45 PM–Recital of Carols by Madelaine MacNeil, performed in Cool Spring House 8:30 PM–Christmas Vigils followed by the Christmas Night Mass The Gift Shop is OPEN extra hours on Monday morning December 24, 10-Noon, […]
Reflection on the Thirty-third Monday of Ordinary Time
Readings: Revelation 1:1-4, 2:1-5; Luke 18:8-12 For the next two weeks, as we move towards Advent and recall the Second Coming of the Lord, the weekday Mass Readings will take us on a rapid–and condensed–tour of the Book of Revelation. I don’t have to tell you what a cryptic and puzzling book of Scripture this […]