Community of Solitude
Welcome to the Community of Solitude ~ an ecumenical monastery without walls open to all believers of western and eastern Christian traditions.
We are all One Body because we all share One Bread.
We are all One Body because we all share One Bread.
Today is the day of salvation for the world... Christ is risen from the dead: arise with him. Christ returns to himself: you also must return to him. Christ has come forth from the tomb: free yourselves from the fetters of evil. The gates of hell are open and the power of death is destroyed. The old Adam is superseded, the new perfected. In Christ a new creation is coming to birth: renew yourselves. (Gregory Nazianzen)
We are a non-canonical monastic community in the tradition of Taize or the Benedictine Women of Madison.
The Community of Solitude is an intentional community sharing a common life of solitary prayer. We are united through the Rule of Benedict and our Constitution, in the daily recitation of the Divine Offices, Lectio Divina, and in the common study of those teachers and masters that have gone before us, especially the writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the Camaldolese saints. From this life flows the apostolic work of serving our community through prayer, silence and solitude.
But these are tools, not ends in themselves. Their function is to create a space for a deeper and more constant conversation with God.
The Community of Solitude is an intentional community sharing a common life of solitary prayer. We are united through the Rule of Benedict and our Constitution, in the daily recitation of the Divine Offices, Lectio Divina, and in the common study of those teachers and masters that have gone before us, especially the writings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and the Camaldolese saints. From this life flows the apostolic work of serving our community through prayer, silence and solitude.
But these are tools, not ends in themselves. Their function is to create a space for a deeper and more constant conversation with God.
We do not restrict admission to this community based on age, gender, clerical or marital status. If you are a baptized Christian and can honestly agree with the traditional Creeds of the Church (Apostles, Nicea and Athanasian) then you are welcome as Christ. It is our belief that if one is called to this way of life by Jesus, no one can stand in their way. And once called to this way of life by Jesus, the person cannot stay as they are; they are now on a path of irrevocable transformation.
The sunflower is a symbol for the Christian seeking God. The two sunflowers represent community, one on each side of the Host representing our solitary focus.
