Place your hope in the Lord; be strong and courageous in your heart, and place your hope in the Lord. — Ps. 27:14
This is typically my Advent retreat to St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA but what’s that quote about best laid-plans…
(1) Quotes from The Book in the Cathedral: The Last Relic of Thomas Becket by Christopher de Hamel:
“For much of the last 500 years in England, religious relics have been widely ridiculed as an aspect of the credulity of the unreformed Middle Ages. Their lowest point was probably during the Enlightenment in the later eighteenth century.”
“The study of history is often licensed impertinence. We would never dare rummage through a rich man’s closets today or rifle through his papers without permission, but transfer the temerity to the Middle Ages and it is considered research.” [Emphasis mine]
“The manuscript is utterly Cistercian. The Order was famous for its graceful but austere pale architecture and its manuscripts with their prescribed monochrome initials without use of gold.”
(2) Compline at St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer MA
(3) Abbaye de Pontigny
“Built in the 12th century, Pontigny Abbey Church is the world’s biggest Cistercian church! The dimensions of this huge medieval edifice are impressive: 108 metres long, with a 4,000 m² floor area! Its magnificent proportions, harmonious volumes, understated interior and the peace that it exudes all help to make this second daughter of Cîteaux such an unmissable heritage site.”
“In the following century, another archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Edme, also took refuge in the abbey of Pontigny. He died in France in 1240. His body rests in Pontigny.”
Sources: Quote 1 and 2
(4) Monkware 8.0 is a Limestone Roof project drawing inspiration from literature, religious, and other sources.
(4a) The Main Altar
(5) The Magnificat (Our Catholic Prayers)
“In this regard, the Magnificat is more than a prayer of praise. It also reminds us about the essential link between humility and holiness. Just as God has “regarded the lowliness of his handmaid” and “has done great things” for Mary in making her the Mother of his Son, so too “he has put down the mighty from their thrones (with his own might!) and has exalted the lowly.”