When Pope John Paul II spoke to the Abbots and Abbesses of our Order in September, 2002, the Holy Father described our monastic vocation as “witness to the high ideal of the unconditional love of God, and response through a love that mystically embraces the whole of humanity in prayer.” Prayer is the life of the monk. Periods of spiritual reading and manual labor, alternating with the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharistic Celebration, take place within that all-embracing spirit of prayer. At Holy Cross Abbey we share the reflective stillness of our life as contemplative monks through our Retreat House and through the beauty of this land at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to which God’s Providence led our founding monks in 1950. Some come for a moment of quiet in our church, some for a few days' retreat, some for the books and monastic products in our Gift Shop, some for spiritual counsel. All are welcome – those of all faiths, and those searching for faith, for peace, or simply for a place to step out of the ever-faster pace of most contemporary lives. May God bless you as you learn more about our life through these words and pictures. Abbot Robert Barnes, OCSO