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Confirmation Retreat

April 11, 2019 | Community Service, Media

Five students, along with Ms. Kennedy and Fr. John, went to Notre Dame School of Dallas to assist with a confirmation retreat for their students on April 9. They left by bus from campus at the beginning of activities period and returned around 5:30. In addition to praying and playing together with the special needs young adults, the Cistercian students helped to put on catechetical skits of parables like the prodigal son, and they helped to complete an arts & crafts activity illustrating the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence, and wonder/awe. It was a wonderful afternoon, and a chance to see concretely how the Holy Spirit can unite all people, even those with different backgrounds and abilities. Let us keep these young men and women in our prayers as they journey toward the Sacrament of Confirmation in May!

Hawk Happenings

Serving in Costa Rica

Twelve of our rising seniors spent a week serving in Pejibaye, Costa Rica with the Diocese of Dallas. Accompanied by Fr. Augustine (their Form Master) and Fr. Raphael, our young men poured concrete, laid foundations, painted, and helped construct chapels alongside the...

Summer Programs 2025

Summer Programs have started at Cistercian! Sports Camps, Rec Camps, Academic Classes, and much more are designed to support the boys’ development as a whole person during the summer vacation.

Summer Programs at Cistercian

Summer Programs at Cistercian are more than books and sports; it’s also board games with monks. Fr. Philip joins the fun in “Board (not Bored) Games,” one of many classes offered June 9–27. Math, rec camp, and more still open for registration

Experience Cistercian

Publications

Continuum Spring 2025

Contents News & Notes The Impossible Dream Teaching God in Many Ways In Memoriam Sports Floating an Idea

Thy Kingdom Come

The more I reflect on the petitions of the Our Father, the more I’m convinced that I have no idea what I’m praying when I mumble those words multiple times every day.

The current object of my loving mystification is “Thy kingdom come.” In an effort to be slightly less intimidated by this vast and marvelous petition, I will arrange my musings as responses to the time-honored journalistic questions.

Lessons learned in a monastery

One of the most important rooms in a monastery, after the church, is the chapter room. This is the place where monks meet to do various things as a community: hear an exhortation from their abbot; listen to a spiritual reading (often a chapter from “The Rule of St. Benedict”); deliberate and vote on the important material and spiritual questions that arise in a monastery, such as who should be the abbot, whether to welcome a young monk as a permanent member of the community through solemn profession, and how best to structure their lives to promote God’s purpose.