I recommend early November for the cool temps and Fall colors. Lay out your clothes and books in your room then spend some time alone with Christ in the chapel. Stroll over to the bookstore and visit with always friendly Fr. Brown. Buy some sacramentals and have him bless them. In the traditions rite. Oh, and buy a hunk of their organic, homemade cheese. Better and actually cheaper than down at Walmart.
There are a few special moments you will never forget. One example is sitting in the refectory for meals, done in the most excellent of Catholic ways. You will experience a moment of serenity listening to the introductory reading before eating watching steam rise poetically from the soup which accompanies most lunches and dinners.
You will be enchanted at the High Mass with Gregorian chant in its most pristine and organic form. But the must sublime experience will be in the almost complete silence of Low Mass, united to one particular Mass but aware there are many taking place simultaneously at nearby altars. It is very intimate and personal being around that little side altar united with a monk priest who you know by this singular daily act is continuously giving up life in the world to give pure worship to God.
Working with the monks is also invigorating, as you are also called to pray while working, and when done you feel tired physically but refreshed spiritually, making dinner later that much more satisfying and edifying. Don’t forget to ask to take a hike down to Eagle’s Bluff, and watch for bald eagles.
Clear Creek Abbey. A metaphorical epicenter of Catholic Tradition. As an Okie, it has had an instrumental role in my own conversion—yes conversion—-to traditional Catholicism. Don’t forget to later email your bishop to let him know of the splendors of Catholic Tradition represented there.