It is with some exaggeration that someone remarked recently that Winkie McKay Smith had introduced conservation easement to Clarke County. However that’s an understandable exaggeration given the energy and commitment that Winkie has brought to the issue and the years of service she has committed to the Clarke County Easement Authority. As was mentioned in […]
Abbot Robert’s Homily for the Feast of the Founders of Citeaux
Readings: Genesis 12: 1-4; Acts 4: 32-35; Mark 10:17-30 Fifty Years ago, during Vatican II, we religious were mandated to return to the spirit of our founders. Our Cistercian Order had begun as a reform of Benedictine monasticism at the end of the Eleventh Century. Our Twentieth Century return to the spirit of our Founders […]
Solemnity of the Founders of Citeaux
The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Abbot Robert Barnes presiding and preaching. As one of the venerable Orders in the Church, Cistercians have the privilege of their own liturgical Ordo, with variations on the Church’s liturgical calendar, sanctioned by ancient usage. 26 January is, for us, the Solemnity of the Founders of Citeaux […]
Homily for the Second Sunday, Year A, 19 January, 2014
Readings: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; I Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34 When I listen to what John’s Gospel has to say about John the Baptist, I start to ask questions. The Fourth Gospel has much to say about the Baptist but in a way different from the other three Gospels. Have you noticed that in today’s Gospel […]
Winter is a Perfect Time to Visit
I wish all our friends and those that have never been here could see Holy Cross Abbey right now. The snow covers the ground and trees and the glory of God is present in nature. Winter is a perfect time to retreat here at the Abbey. The Retreat House has beautiful single rooms with bath […]
The Octave of Prayer For Church Unity, 18-25 January
Yesterday the Church began its week of prayer for Christian or Church Unity. It occurs annually and has, in one form or another, been observed since 1908. It is a response to an initiative by Pope Leo XIII at the end of the nineteenth century. Vatican Council II placed the longing for full unity between […]
I Warned You
The March Monastic Immersion Weekend only has a few spots left…if you are interested send in your $100 deposit asap… The group already registered is a varied and very fun group of people. And we have some new instructors from the monastic community to join our existing faculty that you are just going to love hearing […]
The Baptism of Christ, Our Light, Our Illumination
What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us, as we are in union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete. This is what we heard from him and the […]
A Word from the Cistercian Fathers for January
You have heard, my soul, what you should be. Go apart for a while from your concerns and leave aside for a space the tumult of your thoughts. Enter into the inner chamber of your mind and exclude everything except God and what will help you in seeking him; and when you have found him, […]
The Epiphany of the Lord
Today the Church throughout the world celebrates the great and ancient feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. Whereas the feast of the Nativity became dominant in the Latin Church, the Epiphany still takes precedence in the Orthodox Churches. Indeed, it had been the original feast of the Word Incarnate even in Rome, but gradually, […]