Prayer
Divine Office / Liturgy of Hours / Psalms
Our daily praying of the psalms together as monks in community is a distinguishing feature of our life. That coming together, through the course of a day, across the span of a week, a month, a year, a decade, provides the working space for the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. These ancient Jewish prayers express the full range of human emotion in relationship to God: elation, praise, confidence, sadness, dismay, disappointment, and grief, and so much more, because our human relationship with God is complicated and always evolving toward simplicity.
Eucharist / Mass
In the life of a monk, the Eucharist provides the daily encounter with Christ in word and sacrament that is central to our vocation. Within the Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (Catechism 1324) We become monks to be one with God, and the Eucharist is the major pathway for the fulfillment of that desire.
Lectio Divina
“Lectio divina” translates to “divine reading,” meaning a prayerful reading of Scripture, but also includes the writings of the saints. This ancient practice of the slow, reflective reading of scripture and simply dwelling in the word makes all the difference in the life of a monk. The personal, daily engagement with the scriptures provides a prayerful understanding and a constant alerting to the meaning of the scriptures we pray together in the Liturgy of the Hours.
A comprehensive introduction we recommend is Accepting the Embrace of God: The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina by Fr. Luke Dysinger, OSB, from Saint Andrew's Abbey in Valyermo, California.
Personal Prayer
Monks are people of prayer. In addition to praying the Liturgy of the Hours and sharing in the sacrament of Eucharist, each monk develops a habit of personal prayer, which may include Eucharistic adoration, praying the Rosary, practicing centering prayer, or other kinds of devotional prayer. This habit of personal prayer is essential because it leavens our public prayer together.
