St. Andrew, the “First-called,” as he’s named in the Eastern Church, is celebrated this Monday. He was the first of the apostles to follow Jesus, the one who brought his brother, Simon, to the Lord. Andrew stood by, content, when Jesus made Simon his rock, “Peter”, one of the special three disciples with James and […]

Readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2; Luke 21:25-28; 34-36 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. Today begins the new liturgical year. The Sunday cycle of readings are from Year C and the weekday readings are from Year Two.

Readings: Sirach 50:22-24; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Luke 17:11-19 The community Mass for the National Celebration of Thanksgiving will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. Because we are following the Sunday schedule, Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will follow Vespers (5:30 PM). All are welcome to join us.

In the previous post, we noted Merton’s opinion that whatever the agenda of the culture we find ourselves in, the monastic would take her or his proper place by remaining a monastic–we are simply monks, simply what we are. Embedded in that state, unlike a career or identifying profession, is the call from God. We […]

Readings: Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37 The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching.

Some people have asked for a copy of last Sunday’s talk for the commemoration of Thomas Merton’s 100th birthday. This post is not a verbatim account of that delivery; the particular treatment was a response to that particular group of people and, it seems to me, cannot make the same sense to those who weren’t there. Why? […]

A dozen landowners, educators, farmers and civil servants from four neighboring counties in Northern Virginia were honored today by the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District. All the awards recognized contributions to good stewardship of the natural environment. Among the honorees was Holy Cross Abbey, receiving the Outstanding Conservation Farm Award. Aside from improving our conservation of energy […]

This post is more than a little overdue but I was having computer problems over the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, 7 November, Holy Cross Abbey once again hosted an event to introduce our friends to the film Saving Place, Saving Grace. The event began with a short prayer service, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding, for the healing of […]

This Wednesday, 18 November, is the Sixty-fifth anniversary of Holy Cross’ founding from Our Lady of Refuge in Rhode Island. We thank God for all those who were our founders that day and those who came here to join them, however briefly or permanently, and now rest in our cemetery. We ask God to continue […]

Readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-14; Mark 13:24-32 Since All Saints Day we’ve been hearing more and more from the Book of Revelation, The Apocalypse, both at Mass and in the Divine Office. Our weekday Gospels have been dwelling on things coming to an end and today’s Gospel had been called the Apocalyptic Discourse of Mark’s […]