Dominicans at the Cross House of Studies

PRAYER

"The whole life of the sisters is harmoniously ordered to preserving the continual remembrance of God. By the celebration of the Eucharist and the Divine Office, by reading and meditating on the Sacred Scriptures, by private prayer, and by study, they should strive to have the same mind as Christ Jesus.

Let them earnestly seek the face of the Lord and never cease making intercession with the God of our salvation that all men and women might be saved. They should give thanks to God the Father who has called them out of darkness into His wonderful light. Let Christ, who was fastened to the cross for all, be fast-knit to their hearts."

- Constitutions of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, 57.II

Prayer, our personal and communal union
with the Father, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit,
is the living centre of our life.

PRAY UNCEASINGLY

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

MEDITATION & LECTIO DIVINA

We start in the morning with 30 minutes of quiet meditation and Lectio Divina (prayerful reading of Sacred Scripture)

THE DIVINE OFFICE

We read and sing together the Divine Office, the prayer of the Church, which is composed of psalms, scripture and intercessions. We pray and sing together the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer, Midday Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline every day. If we are away on various apostolates, either as a group or alone, we carry out our prayer wherever we may be, in union with the sisters who are praying in the Priory.

THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS

This is the heart of our lives and of our day. Everything we are and have, everything we do, finds its origin and its finality in the sacrificial offering of the Son to the Father, and in the Father's gift to us of his Son, in the Holy Spirit. That offering, that gift of Jesus' own life is made present for us at Mass.

DEVOTION TO OUR LADY

Every day we also pray the Rosary together, a prayer traditionally attributed to St Dominic, which helps us to meditate with Our Blessed Mother on the life, death and Resurrection of her Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and which is a powerful weapon of intercession. On each Saturday, after the Rosary, we chant the Litany of Our Lady.

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

We close the day with 30 minutes of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, worshipping together God-with-us, present on the Altar, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As well as those times of community prayer, we hold the remembrance of God in our hearts and minds throughout the day, and seek him in the secret of our personal prayer. The monastic observances of silence and the enclosure help us to achieve this.