Contemplative life

The finality of our religious life is to live the mystery of the Virgin Mary when she is united, by her faith and hope, to Christ’s offering as High Priest on the Cross. Living Mary’s mystery of Compassion in silence and prayer, we carry in our prayer the Church and all people. Our life is contemplative and offers a monastic environment to our guests. We love to share what is most essential in our life with all those who come to our guesthouses: prayer, reading of the Word of God, the search for wisdom and fraternal charity.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world. John 17

Prayer life

Silent prayer and the Eucharist are at the heart of our life. Praying the Divine Office, two hours of silent prayer in Eucharistic Adoration, the daily celebration of the Mass and praying the rosary give a rhythm to each of our days. Jesus as Bread of Life takes possession of our hearts little by little through the silence of love. Our personal bond with him deepens through a life of solitude and desert.

Pray to your Father who is in secret. Matthew 6

Formation of our hearts and intelligences

Our contemplative life requires the education of our heart and intelligence. This human, intellectual, and spiritual formation is faithful to the tradition of the Church, especially to the current documents of the Magisterium and those of the Second Vatican Council. This formation helps us to read the Word of God as a living Word and to keep it in our hearts. Searching for wisdom and for truth throughout all the domains of our life allows us to actively cooperate with the life of grace within us.

Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2

fraternal charity

A fraternal and communal life allows us to respond to Christ’s commandment to love one another as He loves us. Through all these different moments of our life—praying together in silent prayer and also the Divine Offices, study and lectio divina groups together, as well as our times of work and of recreation—we seek to live a joyful fraternal charity, in mutual trust and the gift of ourselves to our sisters. Thanks to our worldwide foundations, we encourage a mixing of cultures and nationalities in our convents, which enriches our fraternal life.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 13

Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

John 12

The precious ointment poured out as a pure act of love, and thus transcending all “utilitarian” considerations, is a sign of unbounded generosity, as expressed in a life spent in loving and serving the Lord, in order to devote oneself to his person and his Mystical Body. From such a life “poured out” without reserve there spreads a fragrance which fills the whole house.

Saint John Paul II – Vita Consecrata