Around the Abbey

Lenten Crosses III Around our Abbey we have simple, meaningful crosses, which the sisters see throughout the day. They remind us of Jesus and his love, and call us to love in return. We’d like to share one with you each week of Lent. This is a close-up of our Processional Cross. During all of… Read more

Lenten Crosses II Around our Abbey we have simple, meaningful crosses, which the sisters see throughout the day. They remind us of Jesus and his love, and call us to love in return. We’d like to share one with you each week of Lent. This cross, subtly yet significantly mounted on the front of the… Read more

Lenten Crosses I Around our Abbey we have simple, meaningful crosses, which the sisters see throughout the day. They remind us of Jesus and his love, and call us to love in return. We’d like to share one with you each week of Lent. This simple wooden cross lives in our Chapter Room, where we… Read more

Here to learn Our seasoned Novice Director likes to say, “We come to the monastery to learn!” And she’s onto something. Life in Christ is a full-person, everlasting event, engaging the heart, body, and mind in a learn-as-you-go transformation. Soon after leaving all we knew how to do, and how well we thought we knew… Read more

Come & See, Soon! Read more

The Presentation of the Lord One of the mysteries of a monastic vocation is that God manages to call us from what we know and love, and can see and touch, to a hidden life – a life of enclosure, silence, celibacy, and prayer. Jesus invites people of all backgrounds, views, and personalities “out” of… Read more

Cistercian Founders, Cistercian Family The very first monks of Citeaux were committed to keeping the Rule of St. Benedict. They loved it for what it required of them, what they had vowed: total self-gift. Such totality, though, entailed becoming needy. One cannot be totally self-given and, at the same time, totally self-sufficient. One way that… Read more

Back to the Ordinary It’s Ordinary Time again. But… is that OK, to be ordinary? Read more

Given as a light to the nations A star rises, and we don’t know how or why, but we follow it.  We know we need to follow it.  And when we get there, to the place where I needed to go, to where the star that I saw guided me, I find…you.  And you find… Read more

It’s Christmas We do begin rehearsing our carols several weeks early. And there are stacks of cards to send out. And cookies to bake. But no taste tests allowed. We don’t even lick the spoon! Because Advent at the Abbey is Advent. Pregnancy has its pace. Quite suddenly though, it’s Christmas Eve. How many nuns… Read more

Advent Companions IV At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Mary For Mary also, Advent was a time of waiting, but rather than waiting… Read more

Advent Companions III At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Zechariah Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, also makes this Advent journey with us.  His path is… Read more

Advent Companions II At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Elizabeth Easily seen as merely a foil for Mary, we encounter Elizabeth in the… Read more

Advent Companions I At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. John the Baptist The message of the first few weeks of Advent is: Be… Read more

In the fullness of time November is a wondrous clash of fullness. It begins with the dying of gardens and green leaves, while All Saints & All Souls Days usher us into the Church’s month of prayer for the dead. This year, we not only note that the sun is setting earlier and earlier each… Read more