The Rhythm of the Life

Ordered first to God

The day is built around the altar and the Office, the two together forming the daily school of the Cross.

• The Holy EucharistDaily when possible The center of the whole life, offered with conscious preparation and thanksgiving. Where daily celebration is not possible, the day is still ordered around it.
• Morning PrayerAt the day’s beginning The day is given to God before it is given to labor. The psalms, prayed faithfully, steady the mind and train the affections.
• Noonday PrayerMidday A brief return to recollection in the midst of work, recalling the hour the Lord was lifted upon the Cross.
• Evening PrayerAt the day’s close Thanksgiving for the day and the sanctification of its end, gathering the labors of ministry back into worship.
• ComplineBefore rest The last prayer of the night, commending body and soul to God, and closing the day in peace beneath the Cross.

Remembrance of the Passion

Twice each week the Congregation turns deliberately to the sufferings of the Lord.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, members keep the remembrance of the Passion, ordinarily through the Stations of the Cross or another approved devotion. It is not theatrical but formative, recalling the priest to the costliness of love and to the endurance his own ministry will ask of him.

Silence and return

A rhythm sustained over decades needs seasons set apart, not only hours.

• Days of RecollectionThrough the year Guarded times of silence and prayer, kept alone and at times together, so that ministry does not consume the whole of the priest.
• The Annual RetreatOnce each year A sustained withdrawal into prayer, renewing the vows in the heart and returning the brother to the source of his perseverance.
• The Common GatheringsAs appointed The dispersed brotherhood assembles for prayer, formation, and fraternity, that no priest bear the life alone.