Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21  The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Vincent Collins presiding and preaching. It is a non-work day for the community and we follow the Sunday schedule. Midday Prayer follows Mass at 12:20 PM and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament follows Vespers (5:30 PM). All […]

Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Luke 2:41-52 We are in a season of feasts and I believe these celebrations unpack what the Lord’s birth means for us. Let’s remember what Fr. Joseph preached on Christmas Day, a very important teaching to a society that loves to be affirmed and left unchallenged. The Son of […]

Readings: Micah 5:1-4; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-44 We are surely all familiar and comfortable with the notion that increasing holiness deepens and heightens sensitivity to the presence of the divine and the sacred within the situations of our every day lives. Accordingly, spiritual oblivion and a fundamental insensitivity to the presence of God in our […]

Readings: 1 Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching.

Readings: Isaiah 9:1-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14 Christ mas is a very emotional time for people. We are, by our human make-up, emotional persons and our feelings stand out at Christmas as at no other time of the year. Does anyone behave at the feast of the Lord’s resurrection the way we do at Christmas? […]

Please note that the Gift Shop will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. And whereas we will be open at the usual hours this Saturday and Sunday, from Monday, December 28 through Saturday January 2, the Gift Shop will only be open in the afternoons from 2.15 to 4.15, As usual the […]

You may recall that the 100th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s birth was commemorated at Holy Cross Abbey on Sunday, 15 November of this year. It had only been on 13th November that the terrorist action in Paris had occurred. One of the participant’s shared the experience of her grandson asking how something like that could […]

Readings: Micah 5:1-4; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-44 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching

There are still four openings available at the Retreat House for this weekend, Friday, 18 December through Sunday, 20 December. It’s a fine time to get away from the nonsense of the year’s end commercialism and refocus yourself spiritually. To make a reservation you may telephone Carol Hensley at 540-955-4383 or email her at information@hcava.org

It’s time to conclude these musings and, as I mentioned at the end of the last post, this entry will address three questions. The questions were posed by three participants at the Merton celebration and, I hope, will be relevant to our readers. Of course, I have to take responsibility for the responses. Thomas Merton […]