We have 6 single guest rooms and 2 rooms for married couples. Each guest room is private with its own bathroom.
Our standard retreats are designed for those who need a short but powerful immersion in silence. These retreats are self-directed, meaning that the monks do not provide a retreat program.
For those who may not be able to commit to an overnight stay but still feel the pull toward silence, the abbey provides a sanctuary for a day of personal reflection.
The Long-Term Program is a unique opportunity for men and women who wish to deepen their spiritual practice through an extended stay in our monastic atmosphere. This is a journey of active attention and requires a deeper level of commitment.
Reservations are necessary; we are often booked up as much as six months in advance.
Time frames for scheduling retreats are weekdays with an arrival Monday between 2:30 and 4:30 PM and a departure Friday by noon; or weekends, with an arrival Friday between 2:30 and 4:30 PM and a departure Monday by noon. We receive guests on Monday and Friday between 2:30 and 4:30 only. Longer retreats can be arranged with permission. We do not offer lunch before guests depart. We do not offer single overnight stays.
We have 6 single guest rooms and 2 rooms for married couples. Each guest room is private with its own bathroom.
Arrival time is between 2:30 and 4:30 PM. Please notify us if you wish to cancel or make a change in your reserved dates to allow those on standby to make a retreat.
Check-out time is by noon. Please place the used bedlinens and towels into the pillowcase and leave at the foot of the bed. Please place your room key and any donations you may care to make for your stay in the mail slot of the Guestmaster’s door in the Welcome Center.
St. Luke Guest Dining Room is available to retreatants at all meal times. A Silent Room, located adjacent to the main dining room, is available for those wishing to maintain silence during meals. You are invited to help yourself to all food in the hot plates, or on the dining room counter and in the guest refrigerator. Regular tea and herbal teas are available in the kitchen. Meal times are:
Breakfast: Before 9:00 am
Dinner (Lunch): 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Supper: any time between 4:30 pm to 7 pm
Be aware that following the custom of the monks, the main meal of the day is the mid-day meal. Usually the guesthouse fare reflects the monks’ simple diet which normally does not include meat. Those on special diets are encouraged to bring their own food. Unless you wish to share this food with other guests we encourage you to label each item with your name and retreat dates. Peel-off labels and pens are provided in the kitchen. Please rinse dishes and placeon the dish rack after your meal.
We strongly encourage you to maintain a spirit of silence during your retreat. We especially encourage you to observe the period of Grand Silence that extends from Compline, the last prayer of the day, until after Lauds in the morning. Please, no playing of musical instruments anywhere on monastery grounds. Radios, iPod, or other personal music systems should be used with headphones.
If you wish to talk with a monk for spiritual direction and/or confession, please contact the guestmaster. Due to scheduling demands on the monks available to meet with guests, we cannot always fulfill all requests for spiritual direction, but we will try to meet as many requests as possible. The monastery does not provide psychological or any other form of counseling.
We invite retreatants to participate in services conducted in the abbey church. You are welcome to join the monastic community in the singing of the psalms, but we ask that you do so gently and in unison with the monks. The acoustics of the church can make even moderately loud singing in the visitor’s section a distraction for the monks in the choir. We encourage visitors who are not Catholic to participate in church services to the extent they are comfortable. We are only able to offer Holy Communion to those currently members of the Catholic Church. For personal prayer outside the Hours of prayer in the Abbey Church, St. Cecilia’s chapel is available.
The guest library is always open to retreatants and has an ample supply of contemporary religious and other books. Please feel free to use this space for reading or quiet study. Through an honor system, library books may be “checked-out” for use in guest rooms. Please place all returned books on the counter in the library before you leave the monastery. The monastery librarian will re-shelf all returned books.
We strongly encourage retreatants to turn off your cell phone during your entire stay at the monastery. If you must make or receive a call, please be mindful of how your use of the phone impacts the contemplative environment for you and for those around you.
The donations we receive from our guests allow us to keep the Guest House open and available for all. Your generosity helps cover some of the costs for building maintenance, grounds maintenance, meals and general services in the guest area. A $95 deposit is required to hold a room reservation. Retreats are $95 per night, per person ($190 for a double suite), which includes a private room with a private bathroom and all meals are included.
After unloading your luggage to your room, please park your vehicle in the guest parking area located on the south side of the large brick winery building.
Manual labor is an important aspect of monastic spiritual practice. If during your visit you are interested in joining for some of our work, please contact the Guestmaster in the Welcome Center.
Yes. The non-refundable retreat room deposit can be moved to a different date one time only, with no more than ten-day notice prior to existing retreat date. A new retreat date needs to be rescheduled within one month of cancelling and the confirmed rescheduled date to be no further than six months later than the original retreat time.
