Advent

Advent is a season much loved by Cistercians as a symbol of monastic life, of Christian life.  It is a time to be all the more a monk, all the more a Christian, all the more a person whose single desire is the One who comes, we who have hung our whole life on the promises of God.
“’What am I waiting for,’ a righteous man may ask, ‘but the Lord?’  ‘I know,’ he says, turning towards him, ‘that you will not disappoint me after such a wait as mine.’” (Guerric of Igny, First Sermon for Advent)

Here you will find Chapter talks given by the abbess each Sunday, as well as short reflections on each of the great O-Antiphons.  These uniquely beautiful antiphons are sung at Mass and Vespers during the 17th-23rd of December.  Each one calls upon an allegorical image of Christ from the Old Testament, with the refrain, "O Come!"  The reflections are prepared by the abbess or a sister delegated by her.