What is Invisible Monastery?
The diocesan network of the Apostolate of Prayer for Vocations
There lives a Monastery in our Diocese, invisible as hidden, but no less so real because it is made up of living stones: young people, adults, families, elderly people, religious and parish communities, who take on the commitment to pray so that everyone can respond with joy to God who calls!
In this Monastery we want to rediscover a true ministry of prayer, mindful of the invitation of Saint John Paul II in the Apostolic Exhortation. Pastores dabo vobis:
«The Church must daily welcome the persuasive and demanding invitation of Jesus, who asks us to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38). In obeying Christ's command, the Church makes, first of all, a humble profession of faith: by praying for vocations, while sensing their urgency for her life and mission, she recognises that they are a gift from God and, as such, must be invoked with incessant and trusting supplication. This prayer, the cornerstone of all vocations ministry, must, however, engage not only individuals but also entire ecclesial communities. […] In this way, it will be possible to relive the experience of the apostles who, in the Upper Room, united with Mary, awaited in prayer the outpouring of the Spirit, who will not fail to raise up in the People of God worthy ministers of the altar, strong and gentle heralds of the word that saves us» (n. 38).
The Invisible Monastery he wants to be then a prayer network for all vocations, especially for those of special consecration. Those who join can offer for this intention – according to their possibilities – a daily, weekly, or monthly prayer time, through the Rosary, for example, or Eucharistic Adoration or the Liturgy of the Hours. Members also receive by email InChiostro, the Seminary’s newsletter, with the link sheet and the prayer resource for vocations prepared by the Diocesan Vocations Centre.
Let us all commit ourselves to the vocational animation of our Christian communities starting from the’essential: the’offering of our life and our prayer so that those seeds of vocation that the Lord sows in abundance in the field of his Church may mature!