Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all together to everlasting life. — The Rule of St. Benedict
Dear Beloved in Christ, I would like to tell you a little about the way of life in the Congregation. Because we are Benedictines, our main work is the "Work of God", or the Sacred Liturgy. For our Order this includes the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, The Divine Office, which we sing or say 7 times each day. The Mass is the center of each day. There is Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament every Friday, thus we constantly adore the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Lord Jesus Christ and beg His grace for the Church and the whole world. In order to spend much time each day praising God, we divide into employments, the necessary works to keep the house running. The monks share in the cooking, washing and cleaning - and so on. An important part of each day is study. A study program covering Holy Scripture, Ecclesiology, the Liturgy, our Rule of Life and Our Lord's life begins in the novitiate, but serious study for religious and spiritual formation continues throughout the whole life of the monk. So you see my friends, we do a lot of things, but more important that we do is what we are called to be. Archbishop Fulton J Sheen spoke of "grafting" prayer and sacrifice as a doctor grafts skin or transfuses blood. He explained that as a sick person can receive blood, or bone marrow, or skin from a healthy person to enable him to be healed, so people and situations can be helped by prayers and sufferings from others - perhaps even far away. So we pray and make sacrifice, firstly to make up for our sins, the sins of others and then for the needs of the whole world. Because prayer is more effective the closer we come to Jesus, we are called in a special way to holiness. St. Benedict calls the monastery a "school of the Lord's Service" and all who enter begin like children just starting school to learn holiness by way of humility. Another of the great lessons the pupil learns is the virtue of abandonment to God's will. The monastic school continues for the monk until he dies. So no matter what type of work a monk is doing he is always striving to come closer to Christ and make His will the same as his. Holines is our vocation. Be assured of our prayers for you. Rt. Rev. Msgr. Sebastian Mary, osb Prior General
For more information concerning vocations as a Benedictine, please contact Msgr. Sebastian