Ora et labora

But what drew my attention to it the other day were the words on a banner that was held by an angel who was in the midst of this beautiful picture of the Holy Family.

And the words on that banner said, Ora et Labora.

Ora et labora, which in Latin means pray and work.

And so, of course, I felt like this was a little God wink for all of us because just last week, our first episode, We talked about monastic living and the way that the Benedictine monks' daily routine is interrupted eight times by the ringing of a bell and how they formed this rhythm, which is ora et labora, pray and work.

They would go from prayer to work, prayer to work.

And of course, as I'm looking at this beautiful stained glass window of the Holy Family, are they not the ultimate model for balancing a life of both deep spiritual devotion, but also humble labor? And I was just meditating on it because it's so beautiful.

But I've also grown.

Okay, I might not be there yet.

Yeah, absolutely.

So as part of that Ora Labora tradition, each one of these communities needs to be self-sustaining.

Right.

And so we tend to kind of glamorize the Trappist communities that are around now because post-industrial revolution, they've found ways to sustain themselves that are not as labor intensive as what was required before that.

but really doesn't have anything to do with La Havre other than it's a theme.

In fact, it's closer in play to Ora et Labora, which I believe came out afterwards, 'cause it has that wheel kind of sort of thing.

Oh.

Oh, yeah.

And, you see right there, with the resources and stuff?

Ora et Labora, Dora likes Dora.

[laughs]

Dora's dual.