I just received word from producer Deidra Dain that Picture Farmer Films’ documentary about the Abbey, Saving Grace, Saving Place will air Thursday 12 January, 2017 at 8:00 PM on WVPT. For locally there will be a Sneak Preview at The Barns of Rose Hill, Berryville, VA, on Saturday afternoon, 7 January, between 3:00 and 5:00 PM. […]

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM in the Chapter Room (temporary chapel), Abbot Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching. It is the first Sunday of the month and the Monthly Eucharistic Adoration begins at 4:00 PM and concludes with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament after […]

We must keep watch by night over the flock of our thoughts and actions. Then whether the Lord comes in the first watch or in the second or in the third, he will find us prepared. The first watch is uprightness of action–trying to bring your life into line with the Rule you have vowed, […]

Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24: 37-44 …the flood came and carried them all away. That verse from today’s Gospel strikes me because it resembles a dream told me by a friend. She dreamt that a tsunami sept everything away , and that powerful sweep was the coming of Christ. The image is as frightening […]

Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24: 37-44 Sunday begins the new liturgical year; during the Sundays of Year A, the Gospel will concentrate on that according to Matthew. The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching. SEATING IS LIMITED and Mass is provided primarily for our Guests in […]

This afternoon, Wednesday, 23 November, we celebrated the Anointing of the Infirm, the entire community together, after Midday Prayer. We were primarily celebrating the Sacrament now to mark Fr. Robert’s completion of ten radiation treatments over the past two weeks; the radiation was to deal with cancer cells in his brain. Three other members of the […]

I’ve noticed that many of our retreatants and visitors are very familiar with the idea of the True Self, versus the False Self as our awareness of spiritual realities develop over a lifetime. That category is probably most familiar to us from the later writings of Thomas Merton; from there the model has just proliferated […]

Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43 I’d often asked myself why we celebrate Christ as King in an era when we’ve either overthrown kings or reduced them to figure heads. But then we still tell children stories about kings, while our fantasy movies may depict kings in faraway places and times. They even show up […]

    Here’s a photo of the progress in the chapel.  As you can see the side walls that will hold up the new vaulting are in place.  The workers aren’t exactly monastic in their silence but they do work hard.  Not sure the monks ever expected to hear Beyoncé on the radio in the […]

Readings: Sirach 50:20-24; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching. It is a non-work day and we follow the Sunday schedule; Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will follow Vespers (5:30 PM)