The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching.
New Photographs
It is not lost on any of our visitors that the Abbey has been repainted, that there are new members in the community and many of our veterans have died and are buried. Yet the images on the website do not always reflect those realities. Of course, in an era accustomed to HD, not any old snapshot […]
Monastic Immersion Weekend Waiting List
The March 28-30 MIW is full so we have begun a waiting list. If you would like to be placed on that list to get a place should someone cancel (which always happens, by the way), please send email to companions@virginiatrappists.org The September MIW (11-14) for men has plenty of room available.
Homily for the Sixth Sunday, 16 February, 2014
Readings: Sirach 15:15-20; I Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37 In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ teaching is consistent: he’s challenging our preconceptions. He questions our conventions; he questions our expectations of him. He challenges the conventional notions of anger and forgiveness, of respectable appearances covering the sex drive, of marriage and divorce, of swearing an oath to justify […]
The Living Context for Humility
Last Sunday I reviewed why the focus on St. Benedict’s teaching on the monastic virtue of humility is so apt for this moment of out community’s life. We have taken up the challenge to re-founding our community. Holy Cross Abbey has existed for over sixty years. Most of those who were here in the days […]
Snow Conditions at the Abbey
The Retreat House is closed this weekend; there are serious problems clearing the road up to the Retreat House. The staff have been unable to get in and snow clearance in general remains a challenge, In regard to Sunday Mass, visitors would be well advised not to attempt the trip in; there is still limited parking space […]
Sixth Sunday, Year A, 16 February, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. James presiding and preaching. Although we are expecting road conditions to be good by Sunday, please double check before driving out here; the road along the River can be treacherous.
St. Benedict for the Rest of Us
As someone who has been an active/contemplative for some 40 years and a ‘monastery junky’ for just as long, I often have conversations with people that ask about the life and that wonder about how it might be part of their own lives. Sometimes they even ask if it is possible to be a ‘monk in the […]
Humility in the Rule of St. Benedict, Part 5
As an essential part of our monastic renewal, we’ve been considering St. Benedict’s teaching on humility. He dedicates all of Chapter 7, the longest chapter of the Rule, to humility and his teaching on the subjects is found in his entire Rule. I believe this virtue is essential to our life together. How can I […]
March Monastic Immersion Weekend
There are four slots available for the March 28-30 men’s and women’s MIW… If you have ever had the desire to actually experience monastic life the MIW is perfect for you. We enter directly into the life of the community, including sitting in choir during the Office to pray with the monks and we live […]