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

In the judgment of a monk, happiness lies in union with God. Union with God is the fruit of inner prayer. The root of inner prayer is fraternal love. Fraternal love towards those who suffer is compassion. Compassion issues from humble knowledge of self. So humility is the first step toward happiness. Humility is the immediate task of the monk.

The humble man recognizes how weak and sinful he is...knows that these limitations cause suffering to others...hopes that they will have compassion on him and patiently endure all that is evil in him. This humble realization makes him ready to count the sin, weakness and ignorance of others as something to bear compassionately. This is how Jesus bore our sins: compassionately, with patient endurance, even to death on the cross.

Humility leads to compassionate fraternal love. But because it is so difficult for us to be humble and merciful, we are impelled to practice inner prayer, constantly asking God for these gifts. And as we grow, little by little, in humble compassion, we feel increasingly drawn to incessant inner prayer. Because we are drawn to gaze upon God more constantly, now that we are able to see Him more clearly in hearts purified by fraternal love. In this way our union with God increases and so does the happiness it produces.