What is Prayer?

It is many things, but I’d say one of its main focus points is “Love in action”. This is true for everyone, whether you are a lay person or religious. It is especially true for those religious people who are contemplatives, as they do not have an external apostolate such as teaching, nursing, missionary work etc.

Our main work as contemplatives is prayer. Prayer for the world, prayer for those who ask us for prayers and those who don’t, or those who need prayers but have no one to pray for them.

What is the power of prayer?

It is a very hidden thing, and often we don’t see the results of our prayer and will not until we are in Heaven. To the world this may seem like a waste of time, a wasted life and even we ourselves may feel like that in our bleak moments. Yet, we have to have faith and belief that our prayers make a difference and help others. It is a mystery in many ways.

The best way I can think of to explain what I am trying to say is described in the old classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The character that Jimmy Stewart plays feels like his life has been a waste, the things he really wanted to do he was never able to do–life has passed him by. Instead of living the “ideal” life he had hoped for, he lived the life given to him, helping others out, acts of kindness, etc. He was so blind to all the good he was doing that when Clarence showed him what life would have been like without him he was amazed at the difference he had made and how rough it would have been for others if he had not been born. I’ve always found it a profoundly moving film and one in which you could apply the power of prayer.

In a small sense we are imitating Christ in the selfless giving of his life, so that we could have life. That is what prayer does. It thwarts evil and gives life. If we offer a day of prayer for all those people in the world who are in despair and considering suicide, it may just be our prayer that intervenes and gives hope where there was none, that helps people to choose life. Yet most of the time, we will not know who we touched with our prayers until we share Christ’s glory in eternity. How many people have said, “I felt someone was praying for me.”

The Cycle of Prayer

The nuns of St. Scholastica Priory are contemplative which means that our work is prayer. Some other Benedictine houses engage in more active forms of work, including teaching and ministering to the sick and needy, but we stay within the walls of our own community house and church and pray the Divine Office for all God’s souls.

Because we do net engage in active work, our sources of income are derived primarily through the goodness of others. For this we are grateful to God and to all our supporters.

We engage in formal prayer by singing the Divine Office – starting at 5:40 in the morning – and we engage in silent prayer during those hours when we must attend to the tasks required for day to day living. Prayer is thus a continuous and constant endeavor from before sunrise till long after sunset. We like to refer to this continuum as a Cycle of Prayer.

If you wish to have your own personal needs, loved ones and/or intentions remembered in our cycle of prayer, you can make that request of us. In a world that supplies abundantly for the needs of the body, we seek to provide for the needs of the soul. Birthdays, anniversaries of weddings or deaths – a gift of the Cycle of Prayer may bring joy and peace to your loved ones.