Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance (Trappists)
CHARTER OF CISTERCIAN LAY ASSOCIATES
of "Our Lady of Atlas" in Morocco1. Purpose of the Association
At the present time, what is important is that Christians have solid, living convictions about the truth of the mystery of Christ, so that they can preserve their faith and communicate it to others. What is needed is to have had an experience of God. Today more than ever, we have to be able to give the reasons for our hope (1Pe 3:15). The price of this is sometimes very high!This is why we come together. We want to have nothing dearer to us than Christ and to grow in the knowledge of God. We want to help each other in this common desire and to form a school where we learn to serve the Lord.
We have seen in monastic life, as it is lived in the Cistercian family represented in Morocco by the community of Our Lady of Atlas, a living fountain, a presence of models and supports which correspond closely to what we are looking for. Therefore we, as laypersons living in the world, wish to become members of a religious family. Like this community of monks, we want to:
- Find in the Rule of Saint Benedict a way of continual conversion.
- Be persons of prayer in our local Church, in the midst of the Moslems, who are a people who pray.
- Inherit the spirit of our seven brother Martyrs of Tibhirine.
2. Our Project
2.1. Cultivating the Remembrance of God. This is the main purpose of our project. We are aware of the call addressed to us in Sacred Scripture: "Pray without ceasing" (1Thes 5:17). We want to make our life a permanent offering to God (Rom 12:1), so we seek the means to arrive at continual prayer.
- We try to live each day in the watchful presence of God by often coming back to thinking of him, by moments of silence, short prayers (RB 20,4), reflecting now and then on a word from Scripture.
- We try to establish a balanced rhythm in our daily life made up of prayer, work, "lectio divina" and rest.
- We do our best to simplify our life, to get rid of what is superfluous and unify our heart, to supress agitation and to center our existence on what is essential. This leads to a climate of peace within ourselves and we become aware that there is an interior dwelling inhabited by SOMEONE. This is the interior cloister.
2.2. Building a Community United in the Holy Spirit. The group of Lay Cistercians needs to cultivate a sense of fraternal communion, since they do not usually live in the same place, but are dispersed in their respective places of work and residence. Despite this dispersion, the members of the group form a true community united by their common life project and by a single spirit. This is the invisible monastery, welded together by bonds of fidelity and sharing, by the members' meetings and the mutual support of their prayer.
Therefore some structures are indispensible for supporting this fellowship and to make sure of its vitality:
- There needs to be an animator or coordinator who is a pole of unity to strengthen the bonds already existing among the members and with the community of monks. This animator will be elected by the members of the group who have been with it for a year. The election is for two years and the person can be reelected. He or she should give an account to Church authorities of the general progress of the group.
- The community of Our Lady of Atlas, either the Prior himself or a Brother delegated for this, will take care of our Cistercian formation.
- There will be periodic meetings so that we can be formed together. Thus:
· A monastic day lived together in a particular place will take place every month. During this day we will recite together the prayer of the Office (the Work of God), there will be discussion groups on a monastic theme, "lectio divina" in common, uncovering of the Cistercian patrimony, etc.
· There will be an annual retreat of the entire community in the monastery of our Trappist brothers. This will be the occasion for contacts with Our Lady of Atlas, with days of monastic living in the context of the Offices of the liturgy, times of silence, conferences or dialogues with the brothers, silent prayer with the monks. The purpose of this retreat is to create mutual knowledge and a deep communion between the monks and the lay group.
· After a time of preparation, during which the community of monks and the lay candidate come to know each other, there could be a celebration or recognition of a bond between the monks and each of us. The monks recognize us as lay members of their community. We commit ourselves to live the Cistercian spirit with the help of their prayer and to become something like a "window onto the world" so that, through us, the monks can discover the needs of our Church and pray for them better.
3. Our Life: Praying with Others who Pray. Fraternal communion and the project of journeying together towards God overflow their own structures and go out to others within the same life of divine love. This includes Christian families, the Church, the different professions and the human context of different neighborhoods. Cistercian communion is also directed to the people of Islam, more by a style of friendship than by any spoken word. It is an attempt to live with them what is pleasing to God.
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