Prayer
Our Life of Prayer
All begins with the love of God in prayer. It is in prayer that we receive the love of God poured out for us, and it is in prayer that we learn to love Him above all things. Jesus said to Martha, "you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). Jesus teaches us what is most important, that even in the busyness of Martha we must seek to be present to God like Mary. As Sisters, we seek a total life of prayer from the heart to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is silence that enables us to live this intimacy, creating an environment where prayer leads to contemplation, in order to give ourselves in the mission God has called us to. The Sisters live special times of silence each day in order to listen to God and to nurture their relationship with Christ their Spouse. Certain places in our convent are also designated to silence. Most important is our time spent adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, where we learn to be more like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and being present to Him.
Holy Mass
The highpoint of our day is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As a community we partake in the Sacred Mystery of God's Love poured out in all humility. The Eucharistic Lord is our very life and our strength; and He tells us that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we can have no life in us (cf. John 6:53).
In the Mass we stand with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross, consoling Him with our presence, and receiving Him as He gives Himself up in a total loving gift of self. It is in the Mass that we first seek to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbours as ourselves. By participating in this mystery of God’s love, we gain the strength to persevere in love for God and our neighbour.
The Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office)
The Sisters also celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours (or Divine Office), which is an extension of the prayer of the Mass, sanctifying the hours of the day for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Each day the sisters pray in common the hours of Lauds (Morning Prayer), Vespers (Evening Prayer) and Compline (Night Prayer). The worship and praise offered to God in the Liturgy of the Hours form “hinges”, which anchor our day in prayer.
When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours we join in the prayer of the universal Church, as all priests and religious throughout the world are bound to pray these same psalms and prayers. We are privileged to join in a constant hymn of praise offered up to God, in a multitude of languages, each hour of each day all over the world. We also join with the Church of all ages by praying the same psalms that men and women have prayed for centuries, and which Jesus Himself prayed.
Eucharistic Adoration
The Sisters spend at least two hours in Eucharistic Adoration daily. It is here, sitting at the feet of Jesus in prayer, that we are nourished and formed in His Heart. By being present and attentive to Jesus, we, as spouses of Christ, answer to His cry as the Bridegroom to “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away…” (Song of Songs 2:10).
We surrender our lives and our time to embrace the “one thing necessary” – the contemplation and adoration of God. When we make Him the centre, then everything else in our life falls into place. The time given to God in prayer is a precious gift, and what would seem like “time wasted” in a culture that prizes efficiency and results is actually the most fruitful. It is only by making Jesus the heart of our prayer life, and sitting at His feet, that our life and apostolic work is effective.
The Holy Rosary
The Sisters pray the Rosary twice daily, once in common and another either in the apostolate or in private. Rather than merely say the Rosary, we seek to pray it from the heart, and meditate on the mysteries of the life of Christ, using the scriptures to aid us in this meditation.
Through the Rosary we come to be immersed in the life of Christ and learn from Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the one who knew Him best, how to “ponder all these things” and treasure them in our hearts (cf. Luke 2:19 & 2:51). By seeing the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, we learn to love Him with her heart. This quiet and consistent contemplation produces in us a growth in the particular gift of our femininity, to see and love the other for his or her own sake. We undergo a shift from seeing things in the light of the values of the world, such as efficiency, usefulness, and glamour to the things that really matter in God’s sight – such as love, humility and compassion.
Intercession for the needs of the Church and the world
As Sisters we are Brides of Christ and as such our spiritual motherhood extends to all people. One of the most hidden and effective ways we exercise our spiritual motherhood is through intercessory prayer, particularly in the Rosary. Each time we pray the Rosary we always pray first to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbours as ourselves. We also pray for our Holy Father, our Bishops and priests and the dioceses in which we serve, the youth and families we minister to, and the local needs of the Church, as well as the needs of the Church universal. We also pray for our benefactors, those who have asked us to pray for special intentions, the sick, and the Holy Souls in purgatory. By “standing in the gap,” as it were, between the Father and the world, we conform ourselves to Jesus Christ, who is living now to intercede for us at the Father’s right hand. The scriptures tell us that all through His life Jesus prayed aloud, and with “silent tears” for the needs of us all (cf. Hebrews 5:7). Also, we see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane in an agony before going to His passion, and here again it is recorded that “although He was in agony, He prayed more earnestly” (cf. Lk 22:44). We strive to live a life of intercession for all people, especially those who are suffering, in imitation of Jesus’ heartfelt intercession.
Devotion to the Angels
The scriptures are full of references to the Holy Angels – who act as God’s messengers, warriors, ambassadors, and agents of healing. Throughout the Old Testament the angels are present and active in God’s plan, as ministers of His saving love who bring His messages to men and women. In the New Testament, the beginnings of our salvation are heralded by the message of the angel Gabriel declaring to Mary that she would be the Mother of God (Lk 1:26-38). We see the angels also joyfully proclaiming the Saviour’s birth to the Shepherds and guiding St Joseph to protect the Holy Family from danger (Lk 2:8-14 & Matt 2:13-22). In the mature life of Jesus angels are sent to minister to Him in His time of temptation in the desert at the beginning of His ministry, and at the end in the Garden of Gethsemane, where they offer Him consolation (Mk 1:13 & Lk 22:43).
Today many have lost a sense of the reality of the existence of these heavenly beings, viewing them as a childish superstition. The Sisters seek to cultivate a healthy devotion to the angels, thus affirming the authority of Holy Scripture, and the constant tradition of the Church regarding the existence of the angels. The Sisters pray in common each day the St Michael chaplet, which invokes St Michael and the nine choirs of angels to pray for our protection from all evil, and for growth in the virtues. Sisters are also encouraged to have devotion to their own guardian angels.
Devotion to the Saints
The Sisters also have a strong devotion to the saints – who are not only powerful advocates and intercessors, but also our friends and models of how to live a life of holiness.
In accord with the call of Vatican II to foster an authentic devotion to the saints, the Sisters seek to love the saints, ask their powerful intercession and imitate them in holiness. As the Council explains:
“the authentic cult of the saints consists not so much in the multiplying of external acts, but rather in the greater intensity of our love, whereby, for our own greater good and that of the whole Church, we seek from the saints "example in their way of life, fellowship in their communion, and aid by their intercession." Lumen Gentium, 51[1]
Our devotion includes calling upon the saints in prayer each day, especially asking them to pray for and with us as we pray the Rosary. When we do this, we know that the prayer is rendered more efficacious and powerful, as the saints, who are present in the Heavenly courts, lend their prayers to ours. Calling upon the intercession of the saints also renders greater glory to God:
“It is supremely fitting, therefore, that we love those friends and coheirs of Jesus Christ, who are also our brothers and extraordinary benefactors, that we render due thanks to God for them and "suppliantly invoke them and have recourse to their prayers, their power and help in obtaining benefits from God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer and Saviour." For every genuine testimony of love shown by us to those in heaven, by its very nature tends toward and terminates in Christ who is the "crown of all saints," and through Him, in God Who is wonderful in his saints and is magnified in them.” Lumen Gentium, 50
Sisters are also encouraged to read the lives of the saints, and have a deep devotion to them, calling upon different saints in times of need, and looking to their example of love and zeal. Sisters also recommend devotion to the saints to the people to whom they minister – as learning about the saints is a source of encouragement, up-building in faith, love and zeal.
The five principle patron saints of the community are: St Therese of Lisieux, St John Vianney, St Maximilian Kolbe, St Francis of Assisi and St John Paul II. We also have a strong devotion to St John the Baptist.
