St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is undoubtedly the most famous Cistercian monk and abbot.  His influence was felt throughout Europe and even into the Holy Land.  He is judged harshly for his involvement in preaching the Crusades, but is loved by many monastics past and present for his writings in which he reveals and teaches a way of affective union with C

Hesychia, Blessed Silence This icon is Hesychia, Blessed Silence, an angel that represents Christ with the qualities of Sophia, Holy Wisdom . It speaks to that interior movement of the mind into heart where we meet God in the deepest form of prayer. This is the place where Christ tells us to “Go into your room, shut the door and pray…” (Matthew 6:6)
Since silence is such a foundati

Lent is a journey, it means accompanying Jesus who goes up to Jerusalem, the place of the fulfilment of his mystery of Passion, death and Resurrection; it reminds us that Christian life is a “way” to take, not so much consistent with a law to observe as with the very Person of Christ, to encounter, to welcome, to follow.  Benedict XVI,

One of my all time favorite ways of using Creamed Honey is with peanut butter on toast. Sometimes if I have 2 pieces of toast, I put peanut butter on one and honey on the other and put them together to mix and warm each other. Then pull apart and eat each piece separately. The honey oozes into the peanut butter and the result is simply fabulous. Make sure the toast is warm and you use crunchy peanut butter.

Fifteen years ago on March 26, 1996, our brothers at the Trappist Abbey of Tibhirine in Algeria were kidnapped.  Two months later, on May 21st, they were killed, caught in the deadly strife between terrorist forces and the Algerian army.  Of Gods and Men tells their story - their interior struggles as well as their love of the Algerian people. The movie portrays our brothers as the ordi