Bethlehem Abbey Cistercian Family Blog
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We hope that the reflections given here can be a jumping off point for your own study and response, and how you find a way to incorporate the teachings into your daily living. And remember St Benedict’s advice: Every time you begin a good work, you must pray to God most earnestly to bring it to perfection (Rule of St Benedict, Prologue).
To complement the short articles offered here we will, from time to time, provide some titles for recommended reading: RECOMMENDED READING.
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Categories
- Afflictive Thoughts (10)
- Celebration of the Saints (17)
- Cistercian Writings (4)
- Divine Office (1)
- Feast Days (20)
- Lectio Divina (41)
- Mary Most Holy (4)
- Monastic Practices (10)
- Retreat Sunday (6)
- The Holy Rule of St Benedict (9)
- Uncategorized (1)
- Vocation (17)
The Irish News…
The Irish News: Solitude, not isolation – Cistercians share their ancient tradition amid coronavirus
An article by Fr Aelred Magee OCSO of Bethlehem Abbey, recently published by The Irish News as part of their regular ‘Faith Matters’ column. Click on the title above to read…
All posts…
Pope St Paul VI’s Prayer for Vocation (1964)
Pope St Paul VI’s prayer for vocation written for the first day of prayer for vocations in 1964.
The Solemnity of the Holy Founders of the Cistercian Order: Special Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Cistercian Life
As we celebrate the solemnity of our Holy Founders, Robert, Alberic and Stephen, we invite you to join us on this special day of prayer for Cistercian vocations. What not take a moment to mention the name of our Abbey to God; if passing a Church, drop in, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and light…
20th September – The Korean Martyrs
Today, 20th September, the Church celebrates the feast of the Korean martyrs, St Andrew Kim Taegon and his companions. Apart from the terrible accounts of the persecution which the early Korean believers had to undergo as Christianity established itself in the Korean peninsula, and their subsequent torture and executions, one thing above all must always…
Solemnity of Our Father St Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (20th August)
Just a few years after Robert of Molesmes left the Black Monks and journeyed a short distance to found a New Monastery, with a few monastic companions, at a marshy place outside Dijon called Cîteaux, thus giving his new monastic enterprise their name – Cistercians – it seemed as if the venture would fail. The…
The Solemnity of the Assumption, 15th August
Mary, the Mother of God, has always occupied a very particular place in Cistercian hearts and prayer. All of our houses are placed under her patronage and care, and in a special way, on the Solemnity of the Assumption each year, every community of the Order, throughout the world, marks the feast by making an…
The Solemnity of St Benedict, Abbot – 11th July
Sometimes, trying to find something new to say about a figure who has had vast and, it’s reasonable to say, as yet entirely unquantified influence on society and Church can simply be pointless. And that is by no means to say that all conversation about one such has been exhausted. St Benedict of Nursia perhaps…
More on St Rafael Arnaiz Baron, Cistercian Oblate – 27th April
Today we keep the memory of a Cistercian saint of the 20th century, St Rafael (1911 – 1938). A gifted young man, who studied architecture and showed himself a talented and perceptive artist, he was captivated by the Cistercian monastic life and entered the Spanish monastery of San Isidro. However, he soon became ill with…
Feast of St Rafael Arnáiz Barón, Cistercian Oblate, 27th April.
Rafael Arnáiz Barón was born in Burgos on April 9th, 1911. He was a student of architecture in Madrid when he felt the call of God. He gave up a brilliant career and entered the Cistercian monastery of San Isidro de Duenas (Palencia) on January 15th, 1934. In this monastic community he gave himself in…
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 John 13:1-15 In his Encyclical Letter on the Holy Eucharist, Mysterium Fidei (The Mystery of Faith, 1965), Pope Paul VI wrote powerfully about the presence of Christ and how this presence is mediated in various ways through various means made manifest in the Church’s life and mission: 35. All…
21st March – The Passing of St Benedict
Today, all those religious who follow the Rule of St Benedict as a principle tool for their way of life – and that includes, of course, Cistercians – celebrate the Transitus of St Benedict, literally, his crossing over, or rather more plainly, the day of his death. We might also, using the very beautiful patristic…
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