A morning of prayer with the Norbertine canons for Mark, James & Chris — Saturday, June 13, 2026. The abbey confirmed the regular schedule runs that day. Meet at James's house, 32002 Via Tonada, San Juan Capistrano, at 5:45am.
📍 Get Directions to the AbbeyDecided: Plan A — the full morning, rising for the 7am Mass. Meet & carpool from James's house. Plan B below is kept only as a backup.
| 5:45 am | Meet & carpool at James's house — 32002 Via Tonada, San Juan Capistrano |
| 6:00 am | Depart (drive ~50 min; the canyon road is slow & dark early) |
| 6:50 am | Arrive — enter the church in silence (statio) |
| 7:00 am | Conventual Mass (Latin, on Saturdays) |
| 8:40 am | Terce — mid-morning prayer with the canons |
| 9:00–11:45 | The retreat heart — solitude, lectio, journaling, then reflecting together; breakfast in the canyon |
| 12:00 pm | Sext — midday prayer |
| 12:20 pm | Guided church tour / meet a canon |
| ~1:00 pm | Depart — home to families by ~1:50pm |
The fullest day — the whole round of prayer, anchored by the Mass. Costs an early alarm.
| 7:30 am | Meet & carpool — Starbucks at Greenfield |
| 7:45 am | Depart |
| ~8:35 am | Arrive — settle into the church in silence |
| 8:40 am | Terce — mid-morning prayer |
| 9:00–11:45 | The retreat heart — solitude, lectio, journaling, reflecting together; breakfast |
| 12:00 pm | Sext — midday prayer |
| 12:20 pm | Guided church tour / meet a canon |
| ~1:00 pm | Depart — home by ~1:50pm |
Skips the Mass and the 5:45 alarm; keeps the silence, the day prayers, and the tour. A gentler on-ramp.
A menu drawn from the desert, the cloister, and the contemplative tradition. Pick a few — the ★ are the three you named.
Each man goes off alone on the grounds for 30–45 minutes — no words, no phone. The Desert Fathers' first instruction: stillness teaches everything. Just be with God and let the noise settle.
Bring a notebook. Write what you notice in the silence — a consolation, a desolation, a word that stood out, a movement of the heart. This is the OCL "noticing" you already practice, brought into the morning.
After the solitude, gather and share — one word, one noticing, one thing God stirred. Listen more than you speak, and close by praying briefly for one another. The cloister's way of carrying silence into communion.
Read a short Scripture slowly in four movements — read (lectio), meditate (meditatio), pray (oratio), rest (contemplatio). Do the first reading aloud together, then scatter into silence with the same passage. A Psalm (1, 23, 63, 131) or the day's Gospel works well.
Walking the grounds, pray with your breath: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." Inhale the first half, exhale the second. The oldest prayer of the heart — it turns a walk into worship.
Arrive at each office a few minutes early and sit in silence; let the bell gather you. Cross the threshold between activities deliberately, instead of rushing. A small monastic habit that re-centers the whole day.
On the tour and in the church, let an icon, the architecture, or the light preach to you. Gaze and pray rather than analyze — receive the beauty as a word from God.
Bring a short text — a saying of the Desert Fathers, a paragraph of Merton's New Seeds, or Keating — read it aloud, then sit with it in silence before talking.
The long gap between Terce and Sext is not dead time — it is the retreat. One way to shape it:
"Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything." — Abba Moses, the Desert Fathers
A bit of history about the place — and the men whose ancient round of prayer we’re stepping into this morning.
Founded in 1120 by St. Norbert of Xanten at Prémontré in France — pré montré, “the meadow shown,” a place he believed God had revealed to him. The Norbertines are not monks but canons regular, living under the ancient Rule of St. Augustine in white habits. Their charism is unusual: they wed the full contemplative round of monastic prayer — the sung Divine Office and daily Mass — with active priestly ministry: preaching, parishes, and schools. Nine centuries on, they still keep the hours you’ll pray with them this morning.
The abbey was founded in 1961 by seven Norbertine canons who fled communist Hungary — refugees from the ancient Abbey of Csorna (its roots reach back to the 12th century) after the regime seized the Catholic schools. They first found shelter at a Norbertine house in De Pere, Wisconsin, then were invited by the Archbishop of Los Angeles to teach in California. They bought land here in Silverado Canyon — a block from Cook’s Corner, from Mr. Cook himself — and built a boys’ boarding school and priory.
A long boom of vocations outgrew the old, geologically unstable site. A new abbey on 327 acres broke ground in 2018, and its great Romanesque church was consecrated in 2021 — the church we’ll pray in today.
The abbey doesn't serve drop-in visitors, so bring coffee & breakfast — or stop at one of these. Sorted closest-first; distances are approximate driving from the abbey. Tap a button for directions.
The little market & café right in Silverado Canyon — snacks, drinks, coffee, basics. Minutes from the abbey.
📍 DirectionsChef-driven modern Mexican in the historic canyon town — the sit-down option closest to the abbey.
📍 DirectionsThe legendary SoCal biker bar & grill at the canyon junction. Burgers, beer, patio. An institution.
📍 DirectionsCoffee & a quick bite on the way up or back — the nearest reliable early-morning caffeine stop.
📍 DirectionsA full grocery store down in Foothill Ranch Towne Centre — for a real shop or to stock up before heading up.
📍 DirectionsRustic, old-Western steakhouse in Trabuco Canyon — sirloin, NY strip, porterhouse. Heartier / dinner.
📍 Directions