Registration is still open for the Monastic Immersion Weekend for men September 11-14 but will close soon. Only a couple of spots are left. If interested in spending these fairly intense four days living in community with the monks of the abbey send email to companions@virginiatrappists.org or call 540-955-4604… Here’s information and the schedule for […]
17th Sunday, Year A, 27 July, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Vincent Collins presiding and preaching.
Abbot Robert’s Homily for the 16th Sunday of the Year
Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-30 When my brother and his family came to visit me some years ago, my niece Stephanie, who was three years old at the time, told me that she wanted me to read her a story. Stephanie is now twenty-seven, but that remains one of my fondest memories […]
Considerations on 150 Years at Cool Spring
Last Friday evening I was on my way to the retreat house, aware that there would be visitors on the property to see the Civil War battlefield–from a distance. They were not to intrude upon the farming operations that have transformed the battlefield from a place of violence and death to new growth that nourishes. And […]
Updates on Monday rather than on Sunday
I’ve usually updated Featured News on Saturday and A Word from the Abbot on Sunday. Of course, as you have probably noticed, there have been inconsistencies; just a few weekends ago, for example, our computers were down. And other times, I just have not made the deadline. At the moment I am in transition, assuming […]
16th Sunday, Year A, 20 July, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will be celebrated after Vespers, as it is every Sunday. Vespers begin at 5:30 PM and Benediction begins at about 5:50 PM. All are invited to join us.
Battle of Cool Spring, the Clarke County Historical Association and Br. James Sommers
18 July, 2014 marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Cool Spring; and, as most of our readers realize that battle was fought on the property on which Holy Cross Abbey now stands. Every year we remember those who died in that battle in the course of our communal prayers. Approaching this anniversary, we […]
Fr. Joseph’s Homily for the 15th Sunday of the Year
Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23 In a recent critique of modern global economics, Pope Francis pointed out that the promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, thereby benefitting the poor. However, what happens instead is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger, but nothing ever comes out […]
Abbot Robert’s Homily for the Solemnity of St. Benedict
Mass Readings: Acts 4: 32-35; Philippians 4:4-9; John 17,: 20-26 The whole Church, not just our Cistercian Order or the larger Benedictine family, celebrates the feast of St. Benedict today. Because his monastic Rule influenced the entire continent of Europe during those desperate centuries called the “dark ages”, the Church honors Saint Benedict as the special patron of […]
Fifteenth Sunday, Year A, 13 July, 2014
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Joseph Wittstock presiding and preaching.