Dear Friends,
        Welcome to the online home of Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery, an ecumenical community of women and men in the Methodist and Benedictine traditions.  May you find it a warm and hospitable place to be. 
​God bless you!

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      A Word from our Amma

Dear friends,
          Christ is Risen!  I hope that your Easter day celebration was a blessing that still bears fruit in your life and in the world.
          Easter season is the alpha and omega of the monastic year as drawn up in the Rule of Saint Benedict.  That might seem odd to modern Christians.  Surely the rhythm of our religious calendar begins with Advent and Christmas, right?  After all, without the Incarnation there could have been no Resurrection!
          Quite true.  Back in the sixth century when Saint Benedict was composing his Rule, however, Christmas and the preparatory season of Advent weren’t yet “a thing” in the Church.  That holy season as we know it did not become a major celebration until nearly three hundred years later, so there is no mention of Christmas in the Rule.
          Imagine for a moment what your own experience of the Christian year might be like if you had no holiday trees or brightly wrapped gifts or angel choruses or “Silent Night” to remember.  What image of Christianity might our non-Christian friends and neighbors have of our faith if it were scrubbed clean of Santa Claus and strings of lights and 8’ inflatable snow globes?  Would they still see our joy in believing through six weeks of Lent?  Would they say “truly, these are an Alleluia people?”
          Now think of early monasticism, of its austerities and its simplicity of lifestyle.  One of the most quoted verses in Saint Benedict’s Rule is “The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent.” (49.1) His admonition means that a disciplined community of prayer ought to have a singular focus; that is, monks should always be looking forward to and actively preparing themselves for the great day of Resurrection. 
          If this goal is achieved then every season will be Easter season.  Then every day and every moment our hearts will be joined as one in Christ and our lips will be singing a great Alleluia chorus to our Risen, Victorious King!
          On behalf of the Sisters and Brothers of Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery, I wish you such ineffable joy!

Grace and Peace,
+Mary