Confessing one’s sins on a regular basis strengthens a person’s trust in God’s love and mercy. Confession strengthens one’s prayer life, purifying the heart and helping a person to know himself clearly. In addition to frequent attendance at Mass, Lay Dominicans are encouraged to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on a monthly basis. Communion with Christ is a privilege that is treasured and pursued faithfully.

As much as we are able to partake of Christ’s Real Presence at Mass, we need to. The Eucharist is the crown of Christian life. Lay Dominicans attend Mass as much as they are able, daily if possible and Sunday by obligation. Vitality in one’s living a Dominican life hinges on maintaining a healthy balance between these two types of prayer. In private prayer we speak our own words, and in common prayer we utter the ever-ancient truths of Scripture to God our Father. We employ the very words of the Church to give praise to God and to sanctify our day. When we pray the Liturgy of the Hours, the quality of our prayer is not dependent on our own words and emotions that day. We allow Scripture to work on our souls and to transform us. We use our imaginations to fill in the details of Scripture. We do not read the Divine Office for information. Praying the Divine Office is a way of reading the Scriptures in a meditative, lingering way. The Liturgy of the Hours intimately unites the Church! For example, when we open the Liturgy of the Hours to do morning prayer, we can reflect that religious communities, priests, and laity worldwide – even the Pope himself meditate on the same Psalms, readings, and prayers of the day as we are. Every person has a need to be connected to others, to be “in community.” Praying these fixed prayers of the Church answers this need by putting us in touch with the entire body of Christ spread throughout the world. This type of prayer is vital to Dominican life, especially since most of us are not literally living in community with other Lay Dominicans, but are instead living at home as a single or married person, as most lay people do. The benefits of praying in common with the universal Church are vast. Lay Dominicans are obligated to pray Morning and Evening Prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours can be purchased at our Dominican Bookstore. In addition to Psalms, they contain Old and New Testament readings, prayers, petitions, and meditations from saints, scholars, mystics, doctors, martyrs, popes, and apostles throughout the Church’s rich and extensive history. The Liturgy of the Hours are the prayers of the Church, centered around the Psalms, that sanctify all the hours of the day. In addition to this private prayer, Lay Dominicans pray in common with the universal Church through a means called the Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office. Dominic shed these tears because God had blessed him with a deep knowledge of Himself and all that He had done for mankind. He wept and even sobbed out loud when he thought of God’s fidelity which continues in spite of our indifference, truculence even, or negligence.” Far from being sentimental, St. “He could not come to God nor be mindful of Him that he did not weep. Dominic’s prayer life was so filled with reverence and awe before God and an emptying of himself that he often wept. Dominic’s communion with God is helpful to note here. The fruit of this conversation is communion with God.Ī beautiful aspect of St. Private prayer is an on-going conversation with our Creator. We praise and thank Him for everything He gives to us, we offer adoration to Him, we petition Him for our needs, and we seek His forgiveness for our offenses. In personal private prayer, we come to God with all of our thoughts, needs, and questions. Praying alone usually means simple, spontaneous conversation with God, much like a conversation between two best friends. The first type of prayer which Lay Dominicans practice is private prayer. For Dominicans, balance begins with several different forms of prayer.

Lay Dominican life offers an answer to the basic human yearning for balance. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae is “to contemplate and to share the fruits of your contemplation.”

We see, then, why one of the Dominicans’ greatest mottoes, taken from St. Only through putting Christ first each day and by taking adequate time to pray to Him and contemplate Him can Dominicans have lasting fruits to give the world. Dominic recognized the importance of prayer and insisted that his religious and lay followers practice a rigorous daily prayer schedule.

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