On the Feast of St. Bartholomew we read the beautiful, intimate Gospel of St. John, Chapter 1, verses 45-51. This Gospel describes the calling of Nathaniel, the choosing of an Apostle mentioned by no other Gospel. Why Nathaniel? This is the Hebrew name of Bartholomew, which was his Greek name. How odd for the Jews to have […]

The Festival Psalms for today’s feast are used for most of the feasts of Apostles and Evangelists. Vigils: Invitatory: Psalm 95. First Nocturn: Psalms 24, 33, 34. Second Nocturn: Psalms 61, 65, 75, 97, 99. Third Nocturn: Isaiah 61:6-9. Lauds: Psalm 64; Canticle Daniel 3:52-57; Psalm 150. Vespers: Psalms 142, 146, 147 B.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a great man of the Church. Bernard was painfully aware of the contradiction of his double life as a cloistered monk and a religious celebrity of his century. He tried to be a simple monk and an obscure abbot but it was not meant to be. God used him to […]

What do we mean by Festival Psalms? Although St. Benedict only gives one schedule of Psalms–all 150 Psalms in one week–it is a long-standing monastic practice to break the regular schedule for feast days. Then special psalms are introduced, either evoking the psalms assigned to Sunday or other psalms that somehow seem appropriate to the […]

On our Order’s calendar, today is the memorial of Blessed Guerric of Igny, superseded this year by the celebration of the 20th Sunday of the Year. Guerric is, perhaps, the most approachable of the Cistercian Fathers. Certainly, he was the most unobtrusive, doing what we all do in the monastic life. Blessed Guerric made no name […]

The community Mass will be celebrated at 7:00 AM; the mass will be sung and celebrated at the main altar. Abbot Robert Barnes will preside. Because it is a workday and we follow the weekday schedule, no homily will be preached.

The community Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM; Fr. Vincent Collins will preside and preach

From the First Sermon for the Feast of the Assumption by Bernard of Clairvaux, translated by Marie-Bernard Said, OSB in Mary Most Holy: Meditating With the Early Cistercians, CF 65, p 215 f Our earth has today sent heaven a precious gift, that by giving and receiving a happy compact of friendship, human affairs should […]

The comunity Mass will be celebrated at 11:00 AM, Fr. Vincent Collins presiding and preaching. All communion will be distributed from the main altar. The Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, the Mother of God is the patronal feast of the Cistercian Order.  It is celebrated as a non-work day for the monks and we follow the […]

Ailred died in 1167, a significant date because of what had not yet occurred. He died before the hard work and systematic organization of the Cistercian conversi, the lay-brothers, in England effected the flourishing wool trade. The resulting wealth would rebuild Abbot William’s Rievaulx into the gothic monastery, the ruins of which are the impressive memorial we see today. […]