The monk goes about his business by praying and working, searching and finding at the same time. The monks' life has been traditionally described with the words pray and work, ora et labora.
At various times, spread out through the day and night, the monks come togther in the church to celebrate (in the words of St Benedict) God's Work, that is the liturgy of praise and supplication for the whole of humanity. These hours and the Sacred Eucharist are celebrated in Latin and sung in Gregorian chant.
As well as spending time in prayer, the monks work hard. Everybody contributes according to his abilities in everything which is needed for community life: there is lots of housework to be done in a large building and there is plenty of other work to be done to earn our daily bread, for example in being engaged as stone masons, or in maintaining the website.
Work is not to be separated from prayer. Quite the contrary: to pray is also to work
-God's Work- and work too takes on a deeper meaning because it is done so that God may be praised in all things [from Chapter 57 of the Rule].
