MONASTIC LIFE GOES ON

01 Apr 2020

Working from home has always been at the heart of monastic life, even when monks of Downside Abbey have been engaged in work outside of the physical monastery grounds. So at Downside, the daily celebration of the Divine Office and Mass continue and we continue to do all the usual work that needs to be done to keep the place going. Owing to social isolation the majority of our staff are not able to come into work, and so the monastic community are covering the work that needs to be done here.

Last weekend was the Fifth Sunday of Lent and the traditional beginning of Passiontide, when we cover the statues and crucifixes in purple cloth, as a sign of the approach of Holy Week, with the dramatic veneration of the cross on Good Friday. Dom Boniface got the ladder out and ascended with cloth and stick to get even to the awkward statues on the pillars at the end of the choir stalls. You can see a video of this on our Youtube channel by clicking here.

Classes for Br Hugh and Dom John continue, and the usual work that people do on site continues as you would expect.

Our primary work continues to be the Divine Office and Mass, and we are putting more of this onto our social media channels and website. We do not have the facility to livestream, and so this is nearly all audio, but we are putting a “Thought for the Day”-type video on the social media a few times a week as well. Please remember us in your prayers, as we remember you. If you would like a Mass said for some intention, then feel free to send a stipend and the intention and we can arrange this. You can send in prayer requests by clicking here.