Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary
The Wedding Feast of the Lamb“O Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and man is reconciled to God!” sings the rejoicing Church in the glow of the Pascal candle. This union of heaven and earth, this wedding feast of the Lamb, is at the heart of the mystery of the Church. It is also at the heart of Dominican spirituality. The wedding of heaven to earth takes place in each celebration of the Holy Mass or the Divine Office.
The monastic community is the Church in miniature. As Bride united to her Bridegroom we pray to Christ and through Him to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The unceasing praise of God and intercession on behalf of the Church and the world is the monastic work par excellence. We are united to Christ’s self-offering to the Father for the life of the world most especially in the Holy Mass. This self-offering is carried into all the aspects of our daily life, especially through the vow of obedience.
St. Augustine depicted the Church as ‘sweet-singing’, distilling truth through her singing into his mind and heart. The ancient corpus of liturgical chant – known as Gregorian chant – still echoes within the Church’s walls. Our community liturgy is celebrated primarily with Gregorian chant, and is characterized both by solemnity and joy. The beauty of the chant, and the silence it evokes, make it a way of prayer in the life of the community.
“The call to worship and glorify God…is the most profound vocation of human beings…. From the beginning, monasticism was understood as living in the manner of the angels, and the manner of the angels is worshipping. To enter the angels’ way of life means froming life into worship as far as human frailty allows. Thus, the liturgy is the center of monasticism, but monasticism only makes visible for all what the point of Christian, indeed of human existence, really is.” (Pope Benedict XVI)
The communal prayer of the liturgy flows into and shapes our private prayer. In silence and stillness, we seek the face of the Lord, interceding for the salvation of all. This is fulfilled in a special way through Eucharistic Adoration and meditation on the mysteries of the rosary throughout the course of each day. Like Mary, we ponder in our hearts the wondrous mystery of our salvation and intercede for the needs of the whole world. We implore God’s grace and blessing on the preaching and ministry of the brethren of our Order and upon all who will hear them. In this way we have a true and important share in the salvation of souls. Private prayer also takes the form of lectio divina. This ancient monastic practice of sacred reading is ordained to a real dialogue with God. It is a graced time of listening and allowing our hearts to be transformed. Lectio divina is an essential preparation for fruitful participation in the liturgy.