A Life of Prayer

While being missionaries, we prioritize our community's prayer times because our work flows from a life of prayer. We begin our day with praying the Liturgy of the Hours, Holy Hour with Eucharistic Adoration, and the Sacrifice of the Mass. We come back to prayer at specific times throughout the day to revive our drooping spirits. We seek to pray without ceasing by our union with Christ and allowing him to live in us. Besides the routine life of prayer, every interaction is an opportunity for prayer. Whether it is calling for God's assistance for ourselves, praying for every person we meet, or some particular intercession that the person requests, every moment and conversation provides a supply of intentions to pray for. Truly, prayer feeds the mission and the mission feeds the prayer.  As Contemplative Missionaries for Urban Evangelization, we stand at the foot of the Cross. We take Mary as our model who has compassion on the suffering Christ and holds all things in her heart.

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A Life of Presence

The urban centers of our cities have become spiritual deserts where people cry out for mercy, but few are there to bring the presence of Christ to them in their need. They often feel that they are alone in their suffering. We strive to bring the Catholic Church's presence to all people to make salvation known and proclaim the Good News to them. Psalm 107 tells us that the Lord changes desert into streams and thirsty ground into springs of water. We make ourselves present to those we encounter as Christ is present so that he may do his work of saving souls through us. 

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A Life of Sacrifice

We live a life of sacrifice as we go into the desert so that people may know Christ and His Church. We must leave behind much of the comforts of our old life and put on Christ. We are crucified with Christ and make an offering of ourselves everyday to die to ourselves and live in Christ. Like Christ the Good Shepherd, we give up many comforts to go out in search for the one lost sheep. It is comfortable remaining with the ninety-nine in a nice part of town in a parish that matches our culture and liturgical style, but we give this up to serve those who are in the roughest areas of the city, who feel like sheep without a shepherd and have little to no idea about the Catholic Faith. We live a simple and austere life to make an offering of the things given up for the salvation of souls. 

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A Life of Community

We as Catholics live in communion with the entire Mystical Body of Christ. We carry out the work of the Church in our life and mission. This shared work of the salvation of souls creates the foundation of our community of missionaries. United by our common faith and mission, we build our community by praying, working, eating, and living together. This communal living is the truest foundation and demonstration of our life in faith and life in virtue. Our faith must be tried and our virtue must be developed through the difficulties of a shared life. When we live in community well, we not only live well but provide a living witness of Christ to those we are evangelizing. We build a community rooted in Christ and invite others to live a more authentic Catholic life. As a community, we build each other up and encourage our brothers to a life of holiness. Our mornings are dedicated to prayer and formation; the afternoons are time for the apostolate. While we are not a formal religious community, we are discerning a charism under the supervision of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to form a new community. The current missionaries are living as brothers without formal vows but are living as if they had them. Any men who desire to join should also desire to give themselves fully to the service of the Lord and His Church in order to grow in charity through the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience.