Prayer Life
As Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception, we value our prayer life above all else because it is the foundation of our life. Both communal and personal prayer deepen our relationship with God, strengthen our relationships in and out of community, enhance our ability to serve others in ministry, and enable us to carry out our mission of making God's compassionate presence known. Recognized as one of our core values, prayer opens the "eyes of our heart" to God's presence in all of creation.
Ordinarily each of us participates daily in the celebration of the eucharist as the center of our spiritual life. We continue eucharistic worship through a monthly day of recollection and by daily praying together lauds and vespers of the liturgy of the hours. We are thereby united with the unceasing prayer of Christ in his church and providing opportunity for both an expression of and an enriching source of life in common.
Recognizing the value of prayer in common, we encourage and promote various other forms of communal prayer. We ordinarily pray in common a morning offering, a Franciscan prayer for peace, a prayer to the Holy Spirit, the Angelus or Regina Coeli, and a prayer for vocations.
Each of us develops forms of personal prayer to enrich communcal prayer, to share more fully in the eucharistic prayer of the church, to strengthen our spiritual life, and to enable us for ministry. We frequently spend time reading and reflecting on the sciptures, the Franciscan rule, the life, works, and words of St. Francis and other spiritually enriching sources. We each spend at least one half hour daily in meditation and privately recite compline (Night Prayer). Other forms of personal prayer such as the rosary, the way of the cross, and visits before the blessed sacrament are encouraged.
We regularly participate in faith sharing and annually make a retreat of at least five consecutive days.
(See Daily Schedule for more details.)
