'Prayer is Central to our
lives as Redemptoristines'
Every waking moment we endeavour
to commune with Christ the Redeemer and we do this principally and essentially
through prayer.
Our life is centered on Our Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, reserved here in our Chapel tabernacle
The Tradition of Prayer in the Church
and the Redemptoristine
The Church has a rich tapestry
of prayer which it has, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, been developing
throughout it's history -this development has been taking place for over 3,000
years. We Redemptoristines draw on this wealth of tradition in our prayer
life.
Liturgical Prayer
It is through the EUCHARIST
that we are in deepest communion with the Lord and we learn to be like Him,
LIVING EUCHARISTS for the Church and for the world.
In our LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS,
by virtue of our specific Vocation in the Church, we unite ourselves very
especially to the mind of Jesus Christ, living in love and abandonment the
Mystery of Redemption.
By the EUCHARIST, source
and summit of our Christian life, the Spirit of the Lord intensifies His Love
within and among us. Nourished daily on the same WORD, communicating
in the same BODY OF CHRIST, we travel together towards the Kingdom.
For the Community and for
each one, every Eucharist is a major event to be lived in all its fullness.
Throughout each day, ADORATION
OF CHRIST present in the Blessed Sacrament is for each Redemptoristine, a
source of spiritual strength and redemptive joy.
Personal Prayer
Each Redemptoristine seeks
to develop an intimate, personal relationship with God as Christ the Redeemer
through the intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary, and the saints - particularly
following in the footsteps of Mother Maria Celeste our Foundress.
"Fix your gaze upon
My Divine Being, and never cease to look upon Me, both in your conversations
with your neighbour, and also within the solitude of your cell, in eating
and drinking, in everything, never to leave off making an act of Divine Love".
(Jesus to Celeste )
We seek to be a 'Viva Memoria'
- a living memory of Christ the Redeemer - to be an authentic facet of the Lord
Who is "full of Grace and Truth". Each Redemptoristine tries to be a 'Living
Memory now of Jesus' - of Jesus precisely in the special mysteries of Redemption.
Reflection :
Eternal
Father, my God, Truth itself, Infinite Sanctity, show me Your Son, eternal
Wisdom, in Whom is Your happiness and eternal joy, so that through Him I may
belong to You.
Most Holy
Father, may I love You with the love of Your Son, may He show You to me that
I may know You in truth and love as You long to be loved and as You have commanded
me to love You.
O inaccessible
Light in which all knowledge is reflected; Light which darkness cannot approach
and which enlightens my darkness, Holy Father give me this Son, Your
Word, He Who has redeemed me. In Him I place all my hope and my soul
burns with love of Him. I call to Jesus day and night in my desire for
Him.
Give me
Jesus whom I love, in Whom I hope, for Whom I live; give me my Salvation,
my Peace, my Eternal Protection, my Help, my All.
Recollection and Silence
Our recollection as Redemptoristines
is our 'life, hidden with Christ in God.' It unites us with Christ in
spirit and in heart and makes us relive the Mysteries of His Incarnation,
Passion, Glory, of His Eucharist, His gift of the Spirit at Pentecost and
of His Church.
SILENCE being and essential
value of monastic life, liberates the soul, and always brings with it a call
of the desert to solitude and peace. It opens a person to the depths
of the mystery of God and to intimacy with Him. It is not in the first
place, isolation nor an absence of words but a loving presence to God as well
as a delicate sensitivity to the presence of others by an attitude which allows
them to be recollected and to pray. The hidden life and the silence
permit us to hear the divine Wisdom which teaches in solitude and in the secret
of the heart.
'In your prayers do not
babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will
make themselves heard'. (Mt.6.7)
We are an INTEGRAL PART OF
THE LOCAL CHURCH
Each of our Monasteries is
an integral part of a local church and we are specially devoted to it.
From it we receive the Word of the Gospel and the Sacraments. With it
we share the faith, love, hope, joys and sorrows of those who live in the
area.
Our Monastery has a vocation
to be a centre of prayer and contemplative apostolate in this church.
Those who wish to reflect, pray and renew their spiritual lives in an atmosphere
of silence and recollection find here a 'House of Prayer and Peace' which
they need. we become in reality a living and radiant PRESENCE OF CHRIST.
Although hidden in
Christ and scarcely visible to the eyes of the world, our life of adoration,
praise, expiation and intercession is of itself fully apostolic and missionary
and becomes an offering for the salvation of all of humanity.
Community Prayer
This ideal - to be a 'Viva
Memoria', touches our lives as individuals and as a group. It suffuses our
Community Mass, the chanting of the Divine Office, our common prayer and observances,
the Silence, our busy daily work and our leisure and rest... It includes prayer
and penance for the spread of the fruits of Redemption.
