"Prayer is the very breath of our Benedictine life, from which everything else flows.

It is communication with God, a way of responding to and deepening our friendship with God Our shared liturgy and personal prayer are means of attaining inner healing and strength"

-Kylemore Abbey Mission Statement

Prayer and Work come together when we sing the Divine Office in choir, which is the formal prayer and work of the Benedictine Order. The ancient motto of the Order is Ora et Labora: Prayer and work. All work becomes prayer when given to God as service to others.

St Benedict did not feel it necessary to spell out particular rules regarding prayer. Rather, he believed the rules he set out regarding the observances of the Divine Office and Lectio divina, the prayerful reading and meditating on scripture sufficed to bring his followers to the awareness of God.

Therefore the brethren should be occupied at certain times in manual labour and again at fixed hours in sacred reading. (Rule of Benedict Chapter 48, verse 1)

The Prologue to the Rule of Benedict advises the monk or nun to ‘listen to the ear of the heart’; this is the invitation he gives to deepen our friendship with God.

We work to earn our living and develop as the mature women God wants us to be. From our foundation we have had a tradition of education and since we have lived at Kylemore, in hospitality. Our work covers a wide range of activities from housekeeping to computing, from nursing to crafts, there is something available for all willing hands.

We pray the following prayer every day for those who have requested rememberance in our prayers.

"We thank you, Lord, for your great goodness to us. Please heal and comfort the many suffering people who ask our prayers, keep them in your loving care, and help them in all their needs."