Monastic Liturgy
As Benedictine monastic women, we seek God together as a community while living in community. Our life of prayer, both communal and individual, is essential. Monastic liturgy consists in our communal celebrations of the Liturgy of the Hours and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. These liturgies provide the central framework (the monastic horarium) around which our community life is organized and lived. The resulting rhythm of prayer and work throughout the day continually calls us back to God whom we seek, to growth in communion with God and with one another, and to our primary ministry of prayer for the Church and the world. Here we represent the Church at prayer, with Christ present among us, as he continues and calls us to participate in his work of redemption.
Liturgy of the Hours
"Work of God"
“Let nothing be preferred to the Work of God.” (RB 43:3)
In his Rule, St. Benedict often refers to the Liturgy of the Hours as the Opus Dei – the “Work of God.” Praying the Liturgy of the Hours is the special charism given by the Church to Benedictine monastic communities. Praying as the Church, we sing hymns, chant and recite the psalms, proclaim readings from Scripture, and offer intercessory prayers for the Church and the world, and for those who request our prayers. Especially as we pray the psalms which contain the universal and age-old emotions, trials, and blessings of human life, we give voice to all those who are suffering and celebrating life in our world today. We remember our salvation history and participate in Christ’s ongoing saving action. We serve God and the Church, and we open ourselves to allow God to work in us.
St. Benedict considered the Work of God to be of greatest importance in a Benedictine monastic community. Each day our community gathers to pray Morning, Noon, and Evening Prayer. We pray Compline privately or in small groups at the end of our day. Following this monastic horarium, we answer God’s call to consecrate particular times of each day to the Work of God. We strive to come prepared to pray with “our minds in harmony with our voices” (RB 19:7), and to pray together as one voice. We desire to cooperate with God’s grace so that we may grow in monastic communion, and our lives be transformed to bear the fruit of this important work.
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Our chaplain joins us twice each week to celebrate the liturgy of the Eucharist, which the Church’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy states that the liturgy of the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (10). We gather together to give praise and thanksgiving to God, to offer ourselves and participate in the sacrifice of Christ, and to receive his Body, which we are and are becoming. We immerse ourselves in Christ’s Paschal Mystery so that we may live it with him in our community life and in our ministries – united in his Body, broken and shared for the life of the world.