| . . . live the traditional contemplative life following in the footsteps of our monastic father St. Maron, of St. Sharbel (a Maronite hermit canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1977), and St. Nimatullah al-Hardini (a teacher of St. Sharbel, canonized May 16, 2004 by Pope John Paul II ) Like other cloistered orders, our principal work in the Church is a life of prayer and sacrifice consecrated to God, in union with Jesus Christ—a life of silence, "solitude in community", liturgical prayer and work. But the special orientation of our form of monasticism is Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, so characteristic of St. Sharbel and St. Nimatullah al-Hardini's spirituality. "In the East, monasticism was not seen merely as a separate condition, proper to a precise category of Christians, but rather as a reference point for all the baptized, according to the gifts offered to each by the Lord; it was presented as a symbolic synthesis of Christianity." (Pope John Paul II: "The Light of the East", no. 9) In any truly contemplative vocation there is the Marian dimension. We strive to imitate the Blessed Virgin of the Scriptures who lived a life of silent adoration of her Divine Son, all the while pondering the meaning of His life "in her heart." (Lk. 2:19) Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us through the Church which He established. Therefore: We submit to our Holy Father, the Pope, and to the Magisterium and the Canon Law of the Church. At the very heart of our monastic life is full fidelity to the Roman Pontiff. Therefore, life at this Eastern Catholic Monastery is to be seen first and foremost as Roman Catholic, though not of the Latin rite; a life in which one strives for the perfection of Gospel living as a Roman Catholic Christian. Further, we give homage, respect and obedience to His Beatitude, the Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, and to the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Maronite Catholic Church and their instructions and directions. As monks of the Maronite Catholic Church, we chant daily-in-English the Divine Office and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Maronite rite. |