"We must know that God regards our purity of heart and...not our many words."
(R.B ch.20)

The Abbey Church is a vivid symbol that the heart of monastic life is prayer. A monk will normally spend about three and a half hours out of his daily twenty-four in communal prayer, lectio divina (spiritual reading), and personal prayer. As prayer was vital for Jesus, so it is for each of us. The church with its simplicity, peacefulness, and warmth, encourages both communal and individual prayer. In striving to pray ceaselessly, as St.Paul urges us, each monk is helped by an atmosphere of silence in the monastery and by the support of a praying community.

The Prayer of Jesus

Prayer is the heart of the monastic life because it was the heart of Jesus' life. He prayed before all the most important moments of his life - before beginning his mission, before choosing and commissioning his apostles, before working miracles and teaching, during the agony in the garden and at the moment of death. It was his lifeline to his Father in everything which had to do with the Kingdom, an activity which nurtured love and trust. Jesus expressed this relationship with the word "Abba" (more like "daddy" than "father") - an intimacy which was unique to him as Son of God. When he taught us to pray he invited us to share in all this with the prayer which begins "Our Father". St.Paul writes, "The Spirit you received...is the Spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, 'Abba Father'." (Rom. 8:15). And so through the action of the Holy Spirit we share in the prayer, and the relationship, of Jesus to the Father. So prayer is primarily something which God does within us - our part is to dispose ourselves to receive it - a bit like tuning in a radio to find the wavelength of a transmission.

Community Prayer

The community meets in the church five times a day for communal prayer (the Office) so as to sanctify each moment of life. This community prayer is made up of hymns, psalms, Scripture readings and prayers. The psalms have formed the prayer of the People of God for over two thousand years. When the individual sinks himself in the prayer of the community, he is praying as a member of the Body of Christ and shares in the prayer of Christ. The psalms of the People of Israel and of Jesus become ours as we tell of the wonders God has done for us. The highpoint of the community's life and worship is the daily Eucharist when we give thanks and praise for the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Worth monks at community prayer

Spiritual Reading

Lectio divina (spiritual reading) is quite unlike the modern way of reading, with its emphasis on rapid assimilation. It is like rumination - slow, prayerful repetition of Scripture, which seeks to allow God to change the heart of the reader through a kind of dialogue which continues throughout the day. St.Benedict sees spiritual reading as a key element in the monk's search for God.

Personal Prayer

Each monk at Worth spends daily two half hours in personal prayer. This is a very special time with God and there can be no uniform guidelines. As Abbot John Chapman wrote "Pray as you can, not as you can't". In general our personal prayer tradition comes from the English mystics like the author of "The Cloud of Unknowing". He speaks of prayer as a movement of love - we cannot know God with the mind, but we can reach him with the heart and will. It's a matter of setting oneself in His presence, often with no words at all - you're glad that you're there, you're glad that He's glad, He's glad that you're glad - and so on. Here there are virtually no rules - it's a bit like St.Brendan setting out in his rudderless boat: you can expect to meet whales and storms, perhaps occasionally a treasure island or a mermaid, but most often just a sense of being becalmed.