To Know Christ Crucified and Risen

You did not see Him, yet you love Him; and still without seeing Him you are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described."
~ 1 Peter 1:8

Religious life cannot be sustained without a deep life of prayer - individual, communal, and liturgical."
~ Essential Elements, 28

The Code of Canon Law states that the first and primary duty of all consecrated persons is "the contemplation of divine things and an assiduous union with God" (CIC 663). This life of prayer is considered to be one of the essential elements of genuine religious life: "The religious who embraces concretely a life of total consecration is called to know the risen Lord by a warm, personal knowledge, and to know Him as One with whom he or she is personally in communion" (EE 28). This knowledge is not the result of halfhearted efforts, but is the fruit of fostering an attitude of attention and devotion to Christ so assiduously that this attitude becomes habitual. The consecrated woman understands that her relationship with Christ is the source of any efficacy in her apostolic endeavors. It is the context out of which she makes all important decisions and receives each event and encounter in her day. This habitual union with God is not easily attained and is easily lost. In his exhortation on the renewal of the religious life, Venerable Pope Paul VI affirms, "Faithfulness to daily prayer always remains for each religious a basic necessity. Prayer must have a primary place in your constitutions and in your lives." The religious's prayer is first that intimate communion of spouse to Beloved. The communal praying of the liturgical prayer then expands this personal relationship to include the whole Church, making the spirit of prayer universal, generous, and fruitful.

​"People have to feel that through you Someone else is at work. To the extent that you live your total consecration to the Lord, you communicate something of Him and, ultimately, it is He for whom the human heart is longing."
~ Saint Pope John Paul II