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Ambassador Visit

May 14, 2021 | Media

 

On May 1, Szabolcs Takács, the ambassador of Hungary, came from Washington, D.C. for the May Festival of the local Hungarians. He wanted to visit the Hungarians of North Texas and, in particular, the Cistercian Abbey and School. On behalf of the Abbey, Fr. Julius has been very involved in fostering the local Hungarian community. In the photo, the ambassador stands between Fr. Roch and Fr. Julius, and Gábor Markocsány, Hungarian consul from Houston, is on the right end. The rest of the guests are the ambassador’s team of coworkers. The ambassador placed a wreath at the Hungarian monument in front of the Abbey, commemorating the heroes of the 1956 Revolution against the mighty Soviet Union.

Hawk Happenings

Mini Arts Festival

Here’s a look at the Mini Arts Festival when the sun was shining and creativity was in full bloom.

2025 Literary Competition

Full guidelines and entry link are posted here.

Stations of the Cross

Did you know? Cistercian’s campus features a dedicated Stations of the Cross trail, offering students a place to walk, pray, and reflect in the beauty of nature.

Experience Cistercian

Publications

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.

Calling upon the hallowed name of the Lord

Jesus poses a problem when He instructs us to pray to the Father with the words “hallowed be Thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Many Psalms exhort the faithful to praise or call upon the name of the LORD (Psalm 113:1; 116:13; 148:13), and others assert that “Our help is in the name of the LORD” (Psalm 124:8). But how can human beings hallow — that is, make holy — the name of the LORD (in Hebrew, YHWH), Who is already, always, and automatically holy, utterly beyond our ability to add to or subtract from, to influence or change?