Best Monastery Vallejo Near Me

4worldlovers: If you are inclined to give a donation to the Carmelite Sisters, you may do so through the Diocese of Oakland. If you “click” on the image at the bottom of this paragraph, you will be taken directly to the secure Diocesan web page that facilitates on-line contributions.


Click on the files, below, to hear parts of the liturgy and Sister’s declaration of vows.

4worldlovers: Whoever you are – friend, oblate, guest or seeker – you are welcome to participate in our journey of faith, expressed in our daily liturgical prayer, meditation, Eucharist, and on other occasions when we gather to celebrate the creative action of God’s love in our hearts, community, city, and planet Earth.

We, Camaldolese Benedictine monks, are part of the great river of the monastic tradition that flows through all ages and spiritual paths, and has been nourished by the Benedictine Christian experience of Saint Benedict (sixth century), and renewed by the charism of Saint Romuald, an eleventh century Italian monk. In his existence he integrated what has become the characteristic of the living Camaldolese tradition: community, solitude, and evangelizing forms of life.

Incarnation Monastery is located in the Berkeley Hills just North of the University of California and the Graduate Theological Union. It is a quiet space and guests are welcome and encouraged to join in the prayer of the monastic community if they so desire. Each guest room, with its own balcony, enjoys a beautiful view of the whole San Francisco Bay. Adjacent to the Monastery is a lovely public park. Just a short distance away is the Graduate Theological Union, a remarkable ecumenical and inter-faith experience bonding nine seminaries (Baptist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, Unitarian and interdenominational), together with Orthodox, Judaic, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist Institutes. The Chaplaincy Institute is also very close by.

Have you considered an urban retreat? Incarnation Priory offers a space in the heart of Berkeley. Your retreat can be structured around the Divine Office recited daily in the chapel. You can combine silence and meditation with walks around our charming North Berkeley neighborhood.

Berkeley and the Bay Area are unmatched for music, dance, art, literature, and other cultural expressions. Why not recreate yourself with a cultural retreat linked to the prayer and hospitality of the monastery? Are you visiting one of the seminaries in the Graduate Theological Union? The Chaplaincy Institute? The Berkeley campus? You might consider a stay at our nearby Incarnation Monastery. And be sure to visit nearby Tilden Park.

Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.

If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God’s presence, and stand there with the attitude of one who stands before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.