Benedictine Medal
 
 
  Blessing of the Clocks and Calendars
  Community watches and calendars awaiting blessing

 

Every New Year’s Eve, the community gathers for two distinct evening prayers.  The first, held in St. Joseph Chapel, celebrates the Vigil of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God.  The second, later in the evening, is held in St. Scholastica Chapel and is a prayer for peace.  At the conclusion of this prayer, the community blessing of the clocks and calendars takes place.  Sisters set their watches and calendars on a table and they are sprinkled with holy water, as the community prays that the hours marked by these devices be richly blessed. In blessing the physical objects we use to mark hours, days, weeks, months, and years, the ritual reminds us of the sanctity of time. 

 
    The ordo provides a calendar of the liturgical seasons, feasts, and memorials which the community follows in daily prayer.    
       
       
       
       
       
       
  The liturgical calendar, presented as an annual circle, marks a colorful parade of seasons and feasts.    
  Some members of the community set their watches by the clock outside St. Scholastica Chapel, by which the hours of prayer are said.  
   
   
   
   
 

The ordo provides a calendar of the liturgical seasons, feasts, and memorials which the community follows in daily prayer. 

 
     
     
     
     
     
 

The liturgical calendar, presented as an annual circle, marks a colorful parade of seasons and feasts. 

  Some members of the community set their watches by the clock outside St. Scholastica Chapel, by which the hours of prayer are said.   
         
         
  The clock in the dining room is nearly always set five minutes fast, to give the community those extra minutes to arrive at prayer on time.   Our personal calendars, whether carried in our pockets or hanging on the wall of the Development Office, often reflect the messiness of daily life.  
 

The clock in the dining room is nearly always set five minutes fast, to give the community several extra minutes to arrive at prayer on time.

  

Our personal calendars, whether carried in our pockets, or hanging on the wall of the Development Office, often reflect the messiness
of daily life. 

 
         
         
  Benedictine life is centered on the Liturgy of the Hours.  In his rule, Benedict describes in minute detail the seven hours of prayer, outlining the psalms to be recited at particular hours, as well as hymns and readings to be used.  He also specifies periods of reading and study as well as periods of manual labor.  He notes that nothing should come before the Work of God (RB 43), but the day in Benedict’s monastery was sanctified by periods of prayer, work, and study.  Although we no longer recite all of the hours of the Divine Office as a community, our days too, are sanctified by periods of prayer, work, study, and leisure.  The annual blessing of the clocks and calendars provides a reminder of that sanctification, which can be carried in these tangible objects, through our daily lives.