A Day in the Life of the Community
Called to Holiness
Our life is centered on Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Eucharistic Lord. In communion with the holy Angels, we adore, love and serve Him. The daily schedule of our community gives us the structure of living our charism in daily life. The encounter with the Lord in the Sacred Liturgy (Holy Mass and the recitation of the Divine Office) and in adoration, contemplation and the Passio Domini have the first place. We give much importance to community life and want to do everything together in love. A great part of our life is dedicated to the salvation of souls through our apostolate. All of this we want to do in His presence.
| 6:15am | We begin our day with the Sanctus to unite with the holy angels in their worship; the Angelus to remind us to say “yes” like Mary; and the veneration of the Cross, sign of God’s love and our redemption, in the center of our Monastery. Then, we chant the Office of Reading. |
| Before Holy Mass, we have around 30 minutes of contemplation. This gives us time to expose ourselves to the word of God and ponder it in our hearts and prepare for Holy Mass. | |
| 7:10am | We celebrate our solemn Conventual Mass, the high point of our day. We usually sing a Gregorian Mass. After Holy Mass, we hold 10 minutes of silent prayer, to thank the Lord for the gift of His Eucharistic presence in us. Then, we sing the Lauds (Morning Prayer). |
| We take our breakfast in silence to remain in a prayerful attitude. | |
| 8:45am |
The community meets for work assignments and we receive a blessing from our superior for the work. Some Brothers do manual work in the garden, workshops or computer office, others study and prepare for apostolate: materials and talks. Others do office work and provide for the needs of the community, attend to people and give spiritual direction. Others accompany Opus Angelorum lay members in their formation. |
| 9:00am | The Blessed Sacrament is exposed the whole the morning, and we take turns to adore the Lord in silence. Each of us takes one hour. |
| 12:05pm | We meet for Midday Prayer and Benediction. This is a welcome break in our day. In this way, our work assignments are always penetrated by prayer. |
| 12:30pm | We take lunch together in community. We listen to a table reading and exchange thoughts and experiences. |
| 1pm-6pm | Time for siesta and adoration, work and sports. |
| 6:05pm | We chant together the “Vespers”, the Evening Prayer. We pray the Angelus and the Supplication to the Holy Angels, to implore their help for the Church and the world. |
| 6:30pm | Dinner |
| 7pm | Community Recreation: this is a great opportunity to relax. We may play some games or just sit around together and talk or take a walk. |
| 7:30pm | We hold a Spiritual Colloquy: we read together the word of God and share our reflections. |
| 7:50pm | Community Rosary and Compline (Night Prayer). Time of Silence begins. The Brothers dedicate time for spiritual reading and study. |
| 10pm | Rest |
On Thursdays, our evening program is dedicated to the Passio Domini. We want to accompany Jesus in His agony in the Garden of Olives. We spend time in Eucharistic adoration with a community holy hour from 10pm to 11pm.
On Fridays, we observe a day of fasting and hold the Passio Domini adoration in the afternoon, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed. We hold a common holy hour from 2-3pm, to accompany Jesus in His hours of the Cross.
On Sundays, we start at 6:45pm and have our Conventual Holy Mass with the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Once a month, we have a community outing. We go hiking in the beautiful surrounding nature or visit cultural sites and nature parks.
Vocation Scenes
Watch this video to get some impressions of our community life at St. Gabriel Monastery, Carrollton, OH: Solemn Liturgy, Eucharistic Adoration, Contemplation, Expiation (especially Passio Domini) and our apostolate.
