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)

Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching. Please make other plans for Sunday Mass; once our retreatants are seated, there is no practical room for other visitors and no flexibility for late comers. Communion is a traffic disaster. If anyone had […]

Readings: Malachi 3:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Vincent Collins presiding and preaching. Last Sunday, fewer visitors assisted at the Sunday Mass in our cramped quarters and the celebration was more manageable. Under the circumstances, our mode of celebration is very much a work-in-progress, and […]

Readings: 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Luke 20:27-18 I’m sure we’ve all seen and enjoyed those cartoons depicting various scenes of heaven, with winged folks reclining on puffy clouds, strumming their harps or anxiously standing before Saint Peter at the so-called “pearly gates” seeking entry. Interestingly, some of the apocalyptic writings of the […]

Yesterday at the community Mass, Fr. Vincent offered a petition for Fr. Robert’s health as he enters a new phase of treatment. Fr. Robert has been suffering from double vision and balance problems. The latest C-scan shows that there are cancer cells in his brain and his oncologist recommended radiation as possible treatment. Fr. Robert has […]