A Monastery in Beaumont?

My wife and I spent this past Saturday at a spiritual retreat at the Holy Cross Monastery in Beaumont, Texas. I had never before been to a monastery, and having grown up in the Church of Christ and Southern Baptist Church, I suppose my disposition is to be suspicious of such enterprises. Yet, I found the day to be entirely pleasant and of great spiritual benefit.

We started the day celebrating the Holy Eucharist. It was a lovely celbration, appropriately punctuated by periods of meditative silence when the wind could be heard blowing through the trees outside and the scripture lessons we were reading could be ruminated upon and digested. We then ate a meal together prepared for us by the monks, and had an afternoon's discussion on humility and how it is attained. We ended the day by chanting Psalms 119 and praying together. Through the course of the day it dawned upon me anew how good silence, prayer, nature and meditation are for the soul. I confess to having far less than would be good for me, and hope to make those disciplines part of my regular practice as a disciple of Christ. My wife said the day was beautiful and relaxing... a bit of heaven come to earth. Apparently, they have similar retreats the third Saturday of every month. I suspect those monks have not seen the last of the Ballards.