Our Community life is founded on the concepts expressed in The Acts of the Apostles, the Rule of St. Augustine, and the Day of Pentecost (our constitutions). All three of these sources celebrate the ideal of communio which is the key to Norbertine life. The Acts tell how a part of the first Christian community (in Jerusalem), under the leadership of the apostles, “shared everything in common.”

They would sell their property and possessions and make a general distribution as the need of each required. “The whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul…Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 4:32; 2:46-47).

The ideal of community prayer, community table and community life is one that has captured the imagination of Christian in every generation in the Western Church. It came to be known as communio. The vision of communio, of the friendship of the members of a Christian community with God and with one another was the very heart of the vision embraced by Norbert and his followers.

The opening lines of the Rule of St. Augustine explain that “the first purpose for which we have come together is to live in unity…. to be of one mind and one heart on the way to God.” In the centuries that followed Augustine, many communities, including that of Premontre, would find in the Rule of St. Augustine the model of communio upon which the priests and brothers grounded their way of life.

Each day the members of the community participate in the Liturgy of the Hours. Morning and evening prayers are sung daily by the community. There is a contemplative mass offered after morning prayer on week days. The general public is welcome at morning and evening prayer and daily mass.

At the close of each day the community gathers together to share a common meal and reflect on the experiences of the day before retiring for the evening for individual contemplation and recreation.

Once each month, the members of the Norbertine Community withdraw from their ministries and spend the day together, celebrating the Eucharist, meditation on the scriptures, discussing topics relevant to our common life, sharing the experiences of our ministries, and enjoying each other’s company.

The lay associate and oblate members of the community as well as affiliates discerning religious life join the community in their common life as much as their personal schedules allow.