Cistercian life at Nový Dvůr
Liturgical prayer of praise
It is the chanting of the psalms, seven times per day, that manifests the prayer of the monk, of the Church and of all humanity.
Words ever new, because they elevate those who pronounce them and that elevation enlarges their horizon.
Your tenderness is immense, Lord! Let me live according to your judgments! Truth is at the heart of your word. May our hand hold itself out to me and save me... May my soul live to praise you.
– Terce on Wednesday
“Only those live in the shelter of God who desire this one thing: His love. There is only one thing that makes them tremble, the thought of losing it; they think and worry about it constantly, and, surely, this is what makes real fervor and the cult of God. ... He does not live in the shelter of God who has not made God his protector, but places his confidence in his own vertue and in the abundance of his richesses. Someone could, in effect, manifest fervor, show himself strong in the way of night watches, of fasting, yet then slip easily and start murmuring, complaining, criticising. Oh! If you only knew: it is so little that you possess; and you can lose even that little bit, if He who gave it to you does not conserve it.”
Saint Bernard, Sermon I on Psalm 90