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There are 188 guestbook entries in 19 pages and you are on page number 13

Comments by Zeb Bartels on Monday, January 16, 2006 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
I feel a strong calling to a contemplative life, and probably a monastic one. However I am overwhelmed by the diversity of options in orders and in specific communities of the Trappist order. Do you recommend seeking what would seem to be a perfect fit, or taking a more passive, submissive approach of going where circumstances lead? I have certain strong preferences as to the work, the aesthetics, etc. of the community, but a chosen communtiy could change or my feelings could change after joinging, so maybe I should just get on with it? After all, I’m pursuing God, not my dream life.  
God desires us to seek him wisely. Aristotle taught: Virtus in media stat (virtue stands in the middle); St. Thomas Aquinas taught: Gratia non tollit naturam, sed perficit (Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it), or more succintly, grace builds on nature. Pay attention to your strong feelings, but not to your whims, nor be afraid of what challenges you, stretches you. There will never be a perfect fit, but attraction is one of the signs of a vocation. If a community attracts you, if it is a good fit, that is enough. Your are quite right, you are pursing God, not your dream life.  

Comments by S.P. on Thursday, December 15, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Do you let monks go if they bring in a radio or a t.v. or if they all of a sudden talk out loud to someone, starting a conversation..? 
Not unless they are incorrigible. In chapter twenty-eight of St. Benedict's Rule for monks, "On those Who Will Not Amend After Repeated Corrections," he writes, "If [a brother] does not reform or perhaps (which God forbid) even rises up in pride and wants to defend his conduct, then let the Abbot ... apply his own prayers and those of the brethren... But if he is not healed even in this way then let the Abbot use the knife of amputation according to the Apostle's words, 'Expel the evil one from your midst,' and again, 'If the faithless one depars, let him depart,' lest one diseased sheep contaminate the whole flock."

Silence is an important value in making the monastery a place wholly orientated to a life of prayer. We have times and places for silence, and other times and places for speaking. Radios and televisions are not used in the monastery.   

Comments by Sean on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
After professing vows are you given a new name? 
Not at profession of vows. A new name may be given at reception of the novice's habit.

Comments by Aaron K. on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
When you say college or work experience what does that imply?
Candidates for our way of life are expected to have something more than a high school education in preparation for entrance to our monastic way of life. That could be a couple years of employment, or of college, or military service. A college degree is not required, although it is encouraged. Some experience earning one's living by work or serving others in the military are alternatives to college education. In our way of life monks are expected to earn their living, to serve one another in community, to make sacrifices for the good of others, and to show a love of learning in their desire for God. A candidate who is growing in these qualities before joining a monastery shows promise of becoming a good monk.

Comments by roselyn sibuma on Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Summarize New Melleray  
The monks of New Melleray are Christians professing the Rule of St. Benedict in the spirit of the Founders of Citeaux as handed on in the tradition of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance within a community wholly orientated to a contemplative life of prayer.  

Comments by Sister Clo on Sunday, November 20, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Please tell me more about your Eucharistic Adoration? How can I encourage people to participate in this activity? What is the real purpose of this activity? Do you have a newsletter explaining and encouraging this devotion?
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our whole Christian life. We cannot receive our Lord worthily if we do not first adore Christ's presence in this sacrament. In our Churches we reserve the Eucharist to bring communion to the sick, and especially for viaticum, one's last communion at the end of life. Our love for Christ and his presence in the Eucharist draws us to express intimate friendship by the practice of Exposition of the Eucharist for adoration. We do not have a newsletter for this devotion, but it is one way we express our life of prayer  

Comments by Sister Sharon on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
Is there a Trappistine Monastery of Nuns in Virginia? 
Yes, Our Lady of the Angels Abbey,
3365 Monastery Drive,
Crozet, Virginia 22932-2116.
434-823-1452

Mother Marion Rissetto is the superior, and Sr. Claire Boudreau is the novice director. The community was founded in 1989 from Mount St. Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, MA.

Comments by michael on Friday, November 4, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
I am curious about something. Given the dearth of vocations to the religious life in general, have any religious orders given serious thought to the possibility of the establishment of communities for men and women? I realize there are situations such as at New Melleray, and at the small Canadian Calvary Cistercian community, where sisters basically live across the street from the monks. I’ve seen photos of monks and nuns standing in choir side by side there, at Calvary, singing the Offices. Seems to me like a very reasonable idea, given current situations. Most Cistercian houses have long ago gone to private rooms for their residents, doing away with the "dormitories" etc. Nearly all houses welcome men and women into their retreat centers. Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn’t the ecumenical Taize community existed like this since their foundation? Seems to have worked there. 
The web site for Taize speaks about "brothers" but not about "sisters" in the community: "Taizé, in the south of Burgundy, France, is the home of an international, ecumenical community, founded there in 1940 by Brother Roger. The brothers are committed for their whole life to material and spiritual sharing, to celibacy, and to a great simplicity of life. Today, the community is made up of over a hundred brothers, Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds, from more than twenty-five nations."

Pecos and John Talbot's community at the "Little Portion" have included men and women within the same community. But it is not the practice of older Religious Institutes. Separate monasteries for monks and for nuns are sometimes in the same diocese, Like Calvary and Assumption, New Melleray and Mississippi, Mount Melleray and Glencairn. Not exactly across the street from one another, more like ten to twenty miles distant.

It does happen that monks and nuns may be photographed together in the same Church when they have gathered for a meeting of superiors, or novice directors, or other conferences.

The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance does include communities of monks and communities of nuns under one abbot general. But these communities always live separate Abbeys.

Comments by Anthony on Saturday, October 29, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
There have been stories of people fleeing "the world" and its problems to enter a monastery. Later, they discern that the monastic life was not their vocation. My question concerns the reverse of that - someone fleeing a religious vocation by marrying. Fewer stories of that but I can’t believe that this is uncommon. Is it possible to discern a monastic (or religious) vocation in the midst of a generally stable marriage and family situation?  
It is possible. Within monastic communities today there are some monks who were married and entered later in life, after the death of their spouse. Some have entered after receiving an annulment following a divorce. Canon Law requires that a candidate be free of prior obligations like a marriage bond. If there is a separation and the marriage was valid, it is sometimes possible to receive an indult dispensing from the impediment of a marriage bond. However, the presumption of a vocation will be in favor of the existing commitment.

God may also give a desire for monastic life to someone in a stable marriage and family situation not as a vocation to join a monastery, but as a means to deepen one's life of prayer within the marriage vocation.

Comments by Michael R. on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 at 00:00 IP Logged IP Logged
By coincidence, I just finished reading a wonderful book on the Carthusians, Halfway to Heaven, by Robin Bruce Lockhart, the well-known British writer. For anyone contemplating life in a Charterhouse, this is not to be missed. Unfortunately, it seems that one must have a difficult time trying to test that life. They do not welcome visitors to their Offices or Masses, as most monastics do. Not sure how one goes goes about pursueing such a call. No real questions here on the Cistercian life. I just wanted to comment that I appreciate the public posting of the questions, and profit much from the responses. Thank you! The church at Mew Melleray is astoundingly beautiful, and really conforms to ancient historical Cistercian models. Perplexing why so few seem to be drawn to the life there. 
In response to saintly Pope John Paul II's dedication of the past year to the Eucharist, and in petition for vocations, we have Eucharistic adoration at 5:00 PM on Sundays in the beautiful Church that is God's gift to us. May it please Him to inspire vocations to New Melleray.

Although the Carthusian way of life is so hidden, they do encouage vocations by offering a three month candidacy in their Charterhouse. Candidates may write to Rev. M. Joseph Kim, O Cart., Vocation Director, Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, 1800 Beartown Rd Arlington, VT    

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