Our Anchor

"As her humble daughters we strive to magnify Our Lady's role in the Church. Mary reflected on the divine mysteries in her heart, so we seek to anchor the work of our apostolate in contemplation. Just as she modeled intercessory prayer when she told her Son, "they have no wine",  we offer our intercessory prayer for the needs of the Church."
- MSSR Constitutions -

As part of our ongoing formation in religious life, each Sister reads The Soul of the Apostolate by Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O. This classic work was originally written in French around the turn of the twentieth century. Dom Chautard addresses an audience primarily of priests, but his advice is applicable to religious and laity as well. What advice does he give? Only that which he himself learned and practiced through much experience.

Statue of Notre Dame des Victoires, Paris

​Following a successful career in the world, Dom Chautard discerned a religious vocation and entered a Trappist Abbey in 1877. As a Cistercian, he lived a life of deep prayer and silence, thriving in this peaceful environment. Yet after a few years his superior called him out of the silence of the Abbey to help save the home of the Cistercians, which was in danger of being lost. Dom Chautard employed all of his natural talents and knowledge energetically to this duty, but without any positive results. He resorted to prayer before a shrine of Our Lady of Victories, and upon leaving the shrine was greeted by a stranger who wanted to know what was ailing the monk and whether he might be of any assistance. 

​This was Dom Chautard’s first of many experiences of the inestimable value of prayer and the interior life, not only for the welfare of the soul but for God’s Will being accomplished in his apostolic endeavors as well. In The Soul of the Apostolate, the devout Cistercian teaches the priority of prayer and our relationship with God above all things. It is only from this fount of deep personal encounter that the Christian’s duties and activities, especially as they relate to promoting the Kingdom of God, become truly fruitful. 

​We have many apostolic endeavors – teaching, sacristy work, serving in the Chancery offices, duties at the Convent – and it is easy for a young religious to fall into the widespread motto of some Christian circles: “Let work be your prayer”. It is true we should pray always, and it is true that our work can become a part of our prayer; but it is not the source of our prayer. Rather, it is our heart-to-heart conversation with our Beloved God in the time set aside for prayer – our daily “mental prayer”, the Liturgy of the Hours, Holy Mass, spiritual reading, and frequent little visits to Him in the Blessed Sacrament – which teach us to unite our hearts to His and to then communicate Him to others in our apostolates. 

​Through prayer, our apostolates are enlivened and made fruitful!