The Spiritual Practices
of an Urban Monastic
A monastic life is devoted to prayer. To spiritual living that is prayerful. To creating and dedicating time for meditation and contemplation. To deepening our understanding and relationship with God. There are many prayerful practices that can help us. This is a growing collection of practices.
Foundational Practices
These three foundational practices are written into the Urban Monastic Way of Life. These are active spiritual cornerstone practices for monasticism going back to the earliest years of the Church. Each of them invites us to intentionally engage with God in a different way.
Divine Office
Officium Divinum
Sing or recite liturgical prayers for different times of day, weeks, and seasons. Also called the Liturgy of the Hours or Daily Prayer.
🕣 10 – 20 Minutes
Eucharist
Eucharistia
Partake in rite of Holy Communion that Jesus instituted on the night he was betrayed.
🕣 5 Minutes
Fasting
Ieiunium
To abstain from all food for at least a day.
🕣 1+ Days
Foundational Disciplines
One will encounter these disciplines across Christian spiritual practices. They are highlighted here to provide a shared understanding of these critical lifelong disciplines.
Prayer
Ora
Being purposefully in God’s tender and loving presence where thoughts, emotions, and words can move in both directions.
Work
Labora
Using our bodies and minds to play our part in sustaining and improving society and creation.
Hospitality
Hospitalitas
A spirit, heart, and life that are welcoming and loving for yourself and all that you meet.
Silence
Silentio
It is in the quiet of silence that we come to know our God, and ourselves.
Meditation
Meditatio
Focusing your body, mind, and spirit onto or towards something in particular.
Contemplation
Contemplatio
Opening yourself to what God may bring to your mind or spirit.
Spiritual Practices
There are many active ways to prayerfully engage with God. May these additional practices guide you deeper into the loving and graceful presence of our God.
Abstaining
Abstinens
To abstain from something as an alternative to fasting in order to turn our focus back to God.
🕣 1+ Days
Breath Prayer
Oratio Respiro
A repeated meditative prayer where each breath bring divine truth deeper into lived reality.
🕣 1+ Minutes
Centering Prayer
‌Oratio Centratum
A contemplative prayer, focused on the presence of God.
🕣 1+ Minutes
Examen
‌Examination
A gracious Spirit led revealing of how God was recently present in your life.
🕣 5+ Minutes
Imaginative Prayer
Oratio‌ Imaginativa
Reflective listening to an imaginative telling of a biblical narrative.
🕣 10-20 Minutes
Illuminating Scripture
Illuminatio
A meditative creation of art in the midst of scripture.
🕣 10-20 Minutes
Journaling
Scriptum Reflexionis
Reflection and introspection are hallmarks of monastic life. Writing these down has only in recently become affordable.
🕣 5+ Minutes
Labyrinth
Labyrinthus
A prayerful physical meditation as one journeys towards Christ in the center.
🕣 10-20 Minutes
Lectio Divina
Divine Reading
An engaged listening to a passage of scripture over multiple readings.
🕣 5-30 Minutes
Spiritual Reading
Lectio Spiritualis
Reading texts outside of Scripture that enrich our understanding and appreciation for God and the works of God across time and space.
🕣 5+ Minutes
Stations of the Cross
Via Crucis
A meditative prayerful walking through the death of Jesus across 14 stations for reflection, presence, and prayer.
🕣 15+ Minutes
Visio Divina
Divine Seeing
A meditative seeing something created with attention to insights guided by God.
🕣 5+ Minutes