To Be a Monk
An Essay on the Cistercian Vocation

  1. To Be a Man
  2. To Be A Christian
  3. Experience of the Divine
  4. Community Life
  5. Solitude
  6. The Word of God
  7. Fraternal Love
  8. Compassion and Humility
  9. To Be A Monk In Practice
  10. Signs of a Call to be a Monk
  11. The Monks of New Melleray
  12. Daily Monastic Schedule
  13. Entering New Melleray
  14. Entrance Procedure

A community of monks enjoys group-solitude. The monastic society is separated from ordinary secular society. The bustle of business, the chaos of the streets, the blare of the media--all are excluded from the monastic community. In place of the mad rush and enervating noise of the city, the monastery is a haven of tranquility and quiet. The group-solitude fosters another solitude of even higher value for the monk: inner solitude, the solitude of prayer, solitude of the heart. Our monastic community attempts to provide the optimum circumstances for interior quiet. Inner solitude is quiet in the heart. Prayer and attention to God are possible only in a quiet heart, a solitary heart. Inner prayer equals solitude. It makes no difference at all that a monk lives with many brothers: if he prays in his heart he is a solitary, for inner prayer is a strictly individual experience. Neither angel nor man nor any other creature can violate the holy of holies which is each person's heart. Only God has a right to enter there. And even God does not enter without an invitation. The solitary monk goes down into the most holy places of his heart. There, in secret, he calls upon the Name of his God. The God, who sees in secret, comes to him, dwells with him, and reveals Himself to him. God lives with this man in the solitude of his heart.

Inner prayer, prayer in the heart, prayer of the heart, both pre-requires and constitutes that value monks call solitude. This inner prayer, this solitude, is the very soul of community life. Notice that inner prayer cannot be thought of merely as an integral part--even a necessary part--of community life. It is more than a part. Inner prayer is the actual spirit which gives meaning, value and vitality to the whole body of community life and to each of its parts. Our labor, our common meals, our prayers together--all receive their life and value from the inner prayer, from the solitude, of each monk. The communal activities themselves are the expression and embodiment of the inner prayer of each monk.