Abba Poemen said: “There may be a person who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent; that is, he says nothing that is not profitable.”
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One Order, Seventeen Monasteries of Monks and Nuns
We are the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, also known as "Trappists" or "Trappistines". Within the enclosure of the monastery, forgotten by the world, we joyfully embrace an ascetic discipline which fosters conversion of life to the pattern of Christ's life of prayer, sacrifice, and loving service to our neighbor. Since the arrival of the first Cistercians in North America in 1848, we have become seventeen monasteries in twelve states, living a distinctive life of hidden fruitfulness at the heart of the church. Learn more about us →
Daily Reflection: May 21, 2013
Is silence, then, the same thing as God talking?
Monastic Wisdom
People will tell you that silence in a monastery is something sad, a difficult point of the Rule. Nothing could be more mistaken than that idea. Silence in a Trappist monastery is the most cheerful jargon imaginable!
The Newcomer's Guide to the Trappists
Get the basics concerning a beautiful and distinctive sixteen hundred year old monastic tradition still lived by monks and nuns in the U.S. Today.
News
On Monday, May 20, the American region begins a seminar for Juniors, those monks and nuns who have made profession for a limited time. On that day our juniors will gather at Mount St. Mary Abbey in Wrentham, MA.
The first week will feature conferences by Mother Maureen McCabe, the abbess of Mount St. Mary. She will "work with several themes dear to the Cistercian heart by means of the commentary on the Song of Songs begun by Bernard of Clairvaux, continued by Gilbert of Hoyland and completed by John of Forde." Some of these themes include love of God and neighbor, monastic observances as a means to contemplative prayer and perfect love, continual mindfulness, and the alternation of experience.
The second week will feature conferences by Dom Augustine Roberts, formerly abbot at Spencer, on Cistercian Profession today, background, content and meaning. He will speak of new life under the law of grace, conversatio morum, poverty, chastity, dimensions of obedience and stability, among other topics.
The visiting juniors will be able to participate in the liturgical life of Mount St. Mary; they will have time to get to know other monks and nuns from other houses in the region. One day they will journey to St. Joseph's Abbey in near-by Spencer, MA. A volleyball tournament is likely!
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