Pro Orantibus Day
Today throughout the Church we celebrate Pro Orantibus Day, first instituted by Pope St. John Paul II and celebrated annually on November 21, the memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, although this year, the liturgical feast is not celebrated since it falls on a Sunday. From an article by the Institute on Religious Life:
“The primary purpose of World Day of Cloistered Life, traditionally known as Pro Orantibus Day (“For Those Who Pray”), is to support—both spiritually and materially—the gift of the cloistered and monastic life,” notes Rev. Thomas Nelson, O. Praem., National Director of the Institute on Religious Life. And as Pope Francis reminds us, “it is an opportune occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people who, in monasteries and hermitages, dedicate themselves to God in prayer and in silent work.”
How can you honor and support contemplative life in the Church? Consider using cloisteredlife.com’s interactive map to find a community near you, and reach out to them - https://cloisteredlife.com/cloister-search. Thank them for the gift of their life and their prayers for the Church. And if you are able, consider supporting them in a material way. Because contemplative communities dedicate their lives to prayer instead of to active apostolates which provide an income, we depend in a special way on the generosity of the Catholic faithful to provide for our daily needs.
You can learn more about contemplative life in general and the many forms it takes at cloisteredlife.com. You might be surprised to learn that there are different forms of enclosure and a wide variety of orders who live out the contemplative life in varying ways according to their differing charisms, although all take the same basic form of withdrawal from the world to be totally dedicated to God in a life of prayer.
But most of all, on this day “For Those Who Pray,” please pray for us! A religious vocation and particularly a contemplative vocation is a precious gift from God, but it is also a great responsibility to live up to that calling! Pray that we may be given the grace to remain faithful in our vocations, and that many young people will be blessed with a calling to the contemplative life in the Church today.
