A Life of Study
A Home for the Word of God
While the brethren of the Order are commissioned to go out and preach the Good News, the nuns are commissioned by God primarily for prayer, but are not for that reason excluded from the ministry of the Word.
Our ministry of the Word comes from the fullness of our feminine nature, which is one of attentiveness and receptivity. Like Our Lady we ponder the Word in our hearts, “calling upon God in solitude so that the word proceeding from the mouth of God may not return to Him empty, but may accomplish those things for which it was sent.” (Constitutions)
Sacred Study is born from attentive listening. For the nuns study is not about acquiring academic degrees but about nourishing our life of contemplation. We cannot love what we do not know. Lectio Divina is intimately connected to study for Dominicans because it is ordained to a real dialogue with God. Our whole life is harmoniously ordered to preserving the continual remembrance of God. Such a life, if faithfully lived leads us to that perfect love of God and neighbor which is effective in caring for and obtaining the salvation of all people.
