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

The word of God is everything for the monk. It is God, the Creating Word. It is Jesus in person. It is the inspired text of scripture. Ever more profoundly the monk "sees" that he himself is the created Word of God assumed into the Word that was God from the beginning.

The visibly shared activities of community life and the secretly shared activities of the heart together form the monk's response to the Word of God. Whether he is doing physical labor for his brethren, or singing psalms with them, or secretly abiding in a spirit of compunction and incessant prayer in his heart, everything he does is response to God's Word in his life. In a more specific sense, the Word of God in scripture is treasured by the monk. It is the source of his inspiration, purification, and consolation. He studies scripture. He meditates upon it. He memorizes it. He prays over it. He lives by and with every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. After Eucharistic Communion, scripture is the greatest means available to the monk for union with God.