Contemplative Life

Prayer

Tireless in prayer (cf. Lk. 18:1), the nuns should have their hearts centered on the Lord. In addition to liturgical prayer, let them persevere fervently and earnestly in private prayer, so dear to our holy Father Dominic and the first brothers and sisters of the Order (cf. Humbert of Romans, Expositio in regulam B Augustini, cap. XXVII).

The prayer life of the nuns, as articulated in our constitutions, accords well with the teachings of Vatican II.

Therefore, the whole life of the nuns 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, vigils and intercessions they should strive to have the same mind of Christ Jesus. In silence and stillness, 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. In fulfilling all these things, they are truly nuns of the Order of Preachers (LCM. 74 iv).

Prayer profoundly shapes the life of a Dominican nun. It not only unites her to God in love but it is also her great service of love for her neighbour (every other person). Her prayer is not self-oriented but goes out from herself to God in worship and love and praise; it is standing behind every apostolate endeavor of preaching, teaching and spreading the name and message of Christ; it is carrying to him all the needs and desires, the joy and the pain of her brothers and sisters throughout the world; it is lifting to God in her own heart and voice the inherent beauty and silent voice of praise of the whole created universe. All this is a prominent factor in identifying her response as a contemplative to the gospel call to follow him who "during his life on earth offered up prayer and entreaty . . . and submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard" (Heb 5:7).

It remains for each monastery and each nun to incarnate this teaching in ways suited to different cultures, age levels and mentalities. Dominicans are noted for not prescribing any formal method of mental prayer or building our spirituality around any one particular devotion. Even the Nine Ways of Prayer of St Dominic, our founder, are meant as an incentive to imitate Dominic''s holiness and dedication to prayer, not as a command to copy his bodily postures. What is important is the inner disposition of those who pray.

Dominican nuns of today must be consumed with zeal for the salvation of the world, just as much as St. Dominic and his followers in the early thirteenth century. They are just as eager for contemplative union with God. In so doing their life of liturgical worship  and private prayer remain ever fresh and vital, capable of leading those who live it and others in the world to transformation in Christ which is holiness.