OUR VISION

Peace is a traditional Benedictine motto. Monasteries are generally known for exuding a certain aura of peace. Since Peace is so desperately needed in our world today — peace at the international level, in our country, and in our families — it seemed to us that we should dedicate our monastery to this gift which Christ bestowed on his Church: My peace I give you (Jn 14:27). It is our desire to seek this peace and to live it in harmonious relationships with our sisters in loving openness and trust, grounded in our common prayer and service to each other. And what better patron to help us achieve this than Our Lady herself, who is the Queen of Peace? She was the first to embody the peace which Christ, the Prince of Peace, came to bring us. We pray to her to teach us how we might also embody this peace in our own monastic family and among all those whom we touch in our daily lives. This peace naturally embraces the larger ecclesial community, and so we are in the first place in union and harmony with our holy father, Benedict XVI — the visible source of unity in the Church — as well as with the bishops in communion with him, most particularly our own ordinary, Bishop John Nevins. May Christ's desire that "they all be one" (Jn 17:21) take firm root in our Church today and extend to all the Christian churches in our life time!

And what particular monastic traditions are we endeavoring to establish? We've decided that "living under a rule and an abbot" in our particular context means first of all to give praise to God as a community gathered for prayer. Our common prayer includes 5 of the Hours of the Divine Office: Vigils/Matins, Lauds, Midday, Vespers and Compline, with Vespers in Latin each evening (with the traditional Gregorian Chant), and Lauds in Latin on major solemnities. Our common vision is also reflected in a common habit — the traditional monastic habit — which at the moment is black; however, we are contemplating changing this to another more user-friendly color adapted to the sun in southern Florida, at least for the summer.

The cloister of the monastery is an essential part of every house. Time together with the community whether for prayer, work or recreation ... and time spent alone is part and parcel of our monastic life, which the cloister nourishes and protects. At the same time, our desire to work in association with Ave Maria University militates against a strict interpretation of the cloister. We don't foresee every sister working at the University, but neither is teaching and other such work, incompatible with our vision of the monastic life. The proper balance will no doubt be a challenge to be worked out in prayer and discipline.

The other monastic values, such as silence, solitude, fasting, humility, mutual service, and obedience, are naturally exercises and virtues which we are attempting to make a real part of our life. Please join us in praying that what God has begun, will come to fruition in his own time.