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The Cistercian Liturgy proper for our Province

The Mass, The Divine Liturgy, The Holy Eucharist, these are just a few names by which we call the most wondrous action that mortal man is empowered to enact.  As priests and Bishops, and especially as priests and bishops who belong to a religious order, the most sacred thing that we can do, apart from praying the Divine Office, is to Offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  This we should do as often as is possible, given our individual circumstances.  

In doing this, we offer to Almighty God the Sacrifice of the New Law and confect the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. What an awesome thing this is!  That, through Ordination, we have received the Gifts from the Holy Spirit to change bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is indeed a mind boggling fact! The rites that each of us has used has varied.  

Some have used the Novus Ordo, some the Book of Common Prayer (traditional and new), some the Tridentine Formulary. As members of a religious order, this Rite, which is peculiar to us, has found acceptance by the Abbot General and his Council, and has been approved for use by the entire Order. In matter of fact, there is nothing new here.

We have borrowed aspects from the Roman rites (both old and new), the rites as used in England from the Sarum to the present day Book of Common Prayer, and also from the Eastern Rites specifically the Mozarabic.  In this attempt, we hope to have formulated a uniquely Cistercian/Benedictine Rite that incorporates the best of the best in liturgical usage.

Other rites now in use will not be pre-empted by this Liturgy, but it is our fondest desire that all clergy will celebrate this Liturgy in order to become accustomed to its flow and wording.

We pray that Our Dear Lord will richly bless each of you that will use this Rite, and that all of our brothers and sisters of the Cistercian Order will find this liturgy an avenue for them in the worship of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and an aid for them as they grow in the spiritual life.                        

 

Peace and Blessings, 
 +Robert Thomas COHC 

 

Feel free to download our litugy in four languages and participate with us in celebrating the Eucharist.

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