Part 6: Called to Holiness
‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:16)
6.1 In order to strive for holiness, we use the teaching of John Henry Newman on perfection as a template for our daily life:
“If you ask me what you are to do in order to be perfect, I say, first Do not lie in bed beyond the due time of rising; give your first thoughts to God; make a good visit to the Blessed Sacrament; say the Angelus devoutly; eat and drink to God’s glory; say the Rosary well; be recollected; keep out bad thoughts; make your evening meditation well; examine yourself daily; go to bed in good time, and you are already perfect“.
6.2 We believe that our prayer life, like all aspects of Christian life should be dynamic. As an athlete trains for their event, prayer must be disciplined yet tailored to suit individuals. As a community, we pray with the church, we pray in community and we pray in solitude embracing both disciplined and individual styles of expression.
6.3 Members join together for the hours of the church’s daily worship, morning prayer and evening prayer, and Thursday Adoration. During the week we may be travelling but this universal prayer joins the community together as one. We are expected to return to the community on Wednesday evening to participate in the Lords triduum and find refreshment and encouragement amongst the community.
6.4 Personal prayer takes on several forms. As mentioned earlier, pray in the presence of the reserved Eucharist is our foundation. We need as well to assimilate sacred scripture and reflectively to read books on the spiritual life. We will also meditate on the sacred rosary daily and participate in the Lords supper as often as we are able.
6.5 This Companionship with Christ which begins with the intimacy of the heart underpins all contemplative and apostolic activities that the Community partake in. Father Dehon’s companionship with Christ was expressed and epitomised in the Eucharistic sacrifice. Whilst it may not always be possible to attend daily mass, members will try to live their entire life as ’one unending mass’.
6.6 The feasts of the liturgical year will unite some of us as a community but call others away. Our own feasts, however, should give all of us the occasions as a family to pray and celebrate together. Chief among these is the solemnity of The Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Annunciation, the feast day of Leo Dehon, and the feast day of John Henry Newman (9th Oct).
6.7 Our pattern of living and prayer life reflects the liturgical year. On a more general note we encourage all members to reflect daily, rest weekly, retreat yearly.