Our brothers in initial formation have come to join us here in our ordinary life of prayer, simple work and self-forgetfulness. We rejoice to have these newer members among us, as together we seek to be responsive to the Holy Spirit and attain continual mindfulness of God’s presence.

… communities and groups dedicated to prayer flourish in the Church. Some Christians even feel the call to make prayer the primary action of their day. There are monasteries, convents, hermitages in the Church where persons consecrated to God live. They often become centers of spiritual light. They are centers of community prayer that radiate spirituality. They are small oases in which intense prayer is shared and fraternal communion is constructed day by day. They are cells that are vital not only for the ecclesial fabric, but that of society itself. Let us think, for example, of the role that monasticism played in the birth and growth of European civilization, and other cultures as well. Praying and working in community keeps the world going. Everything in the Church originates in prayer and everything grows thanks to prayer.