“Hitting rock bottom”—a phrase familiar to those who have emerged fruitfully from serious addictions—can also describe a decisive moment in our spiritual lives and in our struggle against the compulsions of sin. The Lord, speaking through Jeremiah, portrays this moment starkly: your wound is incurable, your bruise grievous, and there is no remedy for your […]
Our Bishop’s Visit
This Wednesday, August 5, Bishop Michael Burbidge will be making his annual Pastoral Visit to our monastery. And thus, Holy Mass will be celebrated at 10.00 a.m., on Wednesday morning.
Greetings from Holy Cross Abbey
Our Monastery Chapel is, once again, open to the public for Daily Holy Mass and all the Divine Offices. The Gift Shop is open on the following days and times: Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, from 2.15 until 4.15. On Saturdays the Gift Shop is also open from 10.00 – 12.00 Noon, and again from 2.15 […]
Thursday of the 17th Week of the Year
Saint Paul in writing to Saint Timothy reassures him that although we are unfaithful, God remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Paraphrasing these consoling words, we might say that although we may give up on ourselves, God never gives up on us. Accordingly, like the potter, who tries again and again when the object […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 17th Sunday
The Church’s long history is filled with men and women who, like the figures in today’s gospel, gave up everything to obtain the treasure in the field or the pearl of great price. Whether Saint Anthony of the Desert, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Bernard, or the poor man of Assisi, we are struck not […]
A Word from Our Cistercian Fathers
I said above that God is the reason for loving God. That is right, for he is the efficient and final cause of our love. He offers the opportunity, creates the affection, and consummates the desire. He makes, or rather is made himself lovable. He hopes to be so happily loved that he will not be […]
Abbot Joseph’s Homily for the 15th Sunday
As we know, the starting positions for runners in Olympic track events are staggered to compensate for the different lengths of each lane—the inner lanes being slightly shorter than the outer ones. Unfortunately, when it comes to our spiritual lives, running that race—which Saint Paul completed so magnificently—similar allowances or compensations are not offered. Instead, […]
Friday of the 14th Week of the Year
The spiritual quest for wholeness and integration—also known as holiness—seems inevitably to be preceded by an experience of disintegration and fragmentation. For, just as the walls of Jerusalem, whose rebuilding Pope Leo invokes as an image of our cooperative labor in a fractured world, first had to be breached and demolished—so too must our own […]
Wednesday of the 14th Week of the Year—Blessed Eugene
As Christians we are so familiar with the notion of seeking God and so we might miss the nuance in this morning’s response to the psalm in which we are exhorted to seek always the face of the Lord. And yet, to seek the Lord and to seek the face of the Lord, are not […]
GIFT SHOP LATE OPENING
This Saturday, July 11th is the Solemnity of Saint Benedict—whose Holy Rule we strive to follow. Accordingly, Holy Mass will be at 10.00 a.m., and the Gift Shop will only open at around 11. a.m. this Saturday morning However, the Gift Shop will be open, as usual, on Saturday afternoon at the usual time.