21 November: Presentation Of Mary To The Temple, Pro Orantibus Day
The witness of the Benedictine community residing in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery
On 21 November, the Church celebrates the Presentation of Mary to the Temple, which commemorates the Apocryphal Gospels’ account of the consecration of Our Lady to service in the Temple of Jerusalem. According to tradition, she was accompanied by her parents Joachim and Anne, and remained there until she was12 years old. The date of 21 November coincides with the day of the consecration of the New Church of the Virgin Mary in Jerusalem, initiated by Byzantine Emperor Justinian 1, and completed by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Peter.
On the same day, the Church also celebrates Pro Orantibus Day, which was instituted by Pius XII in 1953, to remember the contemplative communities that play a very important role in the ecclesial community. The Church invites the faithful to pray for the many women and men, who in silence and hiddenness, give of themselves each day, for the benefit of the Church and their brothers and sisters. They are people who chose to follow Jesus more closely, with their special vocation to contemplative life, that is, to give themselves fully to God, in favour of those who live in the world.
During his General Audience on Wednesday morning, 21 November 2018, Pope Francis invited the faithful to thank the Lord for the gift of contemplative communities. “Today, the Feast of the Presentation of the Most Blessed Mary in the Temple, we celebrate Pro Orantibus Day, dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities: there are many of them! It is a timely occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many people in monasteries and hermitages who dedicate themselves completely to God in prayer, silence and hiddenness. May these communities not lack the affection, closeness and support — material also — of the entire Church”.
As of January this year, responding to a request made by the Holy Father, six Benedictine nuns from the Abbey of Santa Scholastic in Argentina, have resumed the ministry of prayer, adoration, praise and reparation, at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.
The Benedictine community of nuns inside the Vatican Gardens has a special mission: to support the Pope in his daily care for the Church, with their prayerful presence.
Their community life follows the Rule of Saint Benedict, in which community prayer and personal prayer in thanksgiving to the Lord for his gifts and intercession for humanity, are alternated with manual labour, meditation and welcome, in accordance with Saint Benedict of Norcia’s celebrated motto, “Ora et labora”. From the time of the sounding of the morning alarm until the recital of the Compline in the evening, the community is called to prayer in Church, several times a day, to present to God the needs of the Church and the prayer intentions of the Pope.
Work is an integral part of Benedictine Rule. Every task is aimed at safeguarding and fostering contemplative life. In solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the world, the nuns offer their day and work to the Lord, to support with their prayer, those who are on the frontlines of evangelization, preaching, welcoming and practicing charity. They take on all suffering, expectations and difficulties, and turn them into a prayerful plea to the Lord.
This is why we are all grateful to these women, who left their country and moved close to the Tomb of Peter, to carry out an irreplaceable role: to bring the needs of the world to the Heart of Christ.