The Women

“Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words:

forget your own people and your father's house.

So will the king desire your beauty:

He is your lord, pay homage to him.”

-Psalm 45:11-12 as recited in the Liturgy of the Hours

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Our Story

  We are a group of Catholic lay women who have heard the Lord calling us to Himself through contemplation and active service in the Church. We are an association of faithful women who live our Eucharistic life in community according to the rule of St. Augustine as well as our own constitutions, and we do so in cooperation with the men of the League of the Blessed Sacrament. While the men are called to imitate Christ as the Sacrificial Lamb and High Priest, as women we are called to imitate Mary, our Sorrowful Mother, in her love, sacrifice, and strength at the foot of the Cross. We live out this imitation most when we attend the daily sacrifice of the Mass and pray the hours of the Divine Office in common seven times a day.

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   We found our way to St John’s through the League of the Blessed Sacrament. The men originally came to the area for a three week retreat but, after much prayer and discernment, they felt the call of God to stay. The men had been working with Lisa to establish a mirror community of women for several years and when they let her know where the Lord had brought them she began praying. It wasn’t long before the Lord opened the doors for us to join the men as they begin to live the canonical life here in Eastern Arizona. 

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We have a deep and life-changing love for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and we desire to share not only Christ’s love for the world, but also our own love and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. We pray the Church’s Breviary seven times a day, occasionally with the men, and we invite any and all to come join us in our prayers in the parish church in Concho or the convent chapel in St Johns. Through this regiment of prayer, our lives are ordered to a relationship with the Trinity and with one another.

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   We sustain ourselves through our jobs at the parish and at the school, selling our handmade crafts, and through the financial support of benefactors.

   We sell items through our online Etsy shop as well as with the men at fairs and bazaars in Eastern Arizona. The main financial support that sustains our work of prayer and ministry, however, comes from the Christian Faithful supporting them through donations and monthly giving. Our confraternity, The League of the Blessed Sacrament, is a registered 501 C3 non-profit. Your donations and support are put to work advancing the gospel and supporting our life of prayer and ministry and is fully tax deductible.

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Who we are:

   We are an association of Catholic lay women who live in community under the rule of St. Augustine and structure their lives around the reality of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. With approval, we hope to one day become the Canonesses Regular of the Blessed Sacrament - a feminine mirror of the men when they become the Canons Regular of the Blessed Sacrament.

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What we do:

   We live in common and chant the Divine Office in community seven times a day. The Divine Office, commonly referred to as the Liturgy of the Hours, is the ancient prayer of the Church and the number seven is taken from the Psalms: “Seven times a day I praise Thee because of the Thy righteous judgements” (Ps 119:164). From this contemplative life flows our ministry to the Church through parish work such as serving in the sacristy, teaching CCD, work with RCIA, leading parish missions and giving presentations on the Church’s liturgical life. Our desire is “to renew all things in Christ.” Because this is so important to us and to the life of the Church, we have taken these words as our motto. To live out this desire to renew all things in Christ, we have undertaken various ministries including teaching at the local catholic school, liturgical training, sacristy work, teaching catechism, social media ministry, college ministry, confirmation retreats, and others.

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Horarium

6:00am - Lauds (Morning Prayer) and Prime 

6:50am - Short Breakfast

8:00am - Mass

8:45am - Work

10:00am - Terce (Midmorning Prayer) 

10:15am - Work

Noon - Sext (Midday Prayer)

12:15pm - Lunch

1:00pm - Work

3:00pm - None (Mid Afternoon Prayer)

3:15pm - Free Time

4:00pm - Holy Hour/Adoration/Seraphic Rosary

5:00pm - Vespers (Evening Prayer)

6:00pm - Dinner

7:00pm - Community Time

9:00pm - Matins (Office of Readings) and Compline (Night Prayer) followed by Grand Silence until Lauds