Our Order is a monastic institute wholly ordered to contemplation: we consecrate our entire lives to God, in the silence and solitude of the monastery, without entering into apostolic works that would require us to leave the monastery. The spirit of our Order is thus described, in five points, in Number 3 of our Constitution:
Way of life
The Cistercian way of life is cenobitic. Cistercian monks seek God and follow Christ through obedience to a rule and an abbot, in a stable community that is a school of brotherly love. Since the brothers, together, form one body and one soul, they hold everything in common. Bearing each other’s burdens, they fulfill God’s law, share in His suffering, and hope to enter the heavenly kingdom.
The monastery is a school for the Lord’s service where, through liturgy, the abbot’s teachings and fraternal life, Christ is formed in the brothers’ hearts. Through the Word of God monks are apprenticed into mastery of heart and action which enables them, by obedience to the Holy Spirit, to attain purity of heart and unceasing mindfulness of the presence of God.
Monks follow the steps of those who, in ages past, were called by God to spiritual combat in the desert. Citizens of the heavens, they become strangers to worldly ways. Living in solitude and silence, they aspire to the wisdom that is begotten through interior peace. They renounce themselves to follow Christ. Through humility and obedience, they battle with selfishness and the rebellion of sin. In simplicity and work, they seek the blessedness promised to the poor. Through their earnest hospitality they share the peace and hope that Christ bestows on those who, like them, are on this journey .
The monastery as image of the Church
The monastery is an expression of the mystery of the Church. Nothing is preferred to the praise of God’s glory and no effort is spared, so that the common life in its entirety is submitted to the supreme law of the Gospel, in order that the entire community of brothers not lack in spiritual gifts . Monks are concerned with being in communion with the whole people of God; they share in the waiting and seeking of Christian unity. In fact, monks serve the people of God and all of humanity through the faithful practice of monastic life and through the secret apostolic fruitfulness given to them. Every church of the Order, as every monk, is dedicated to blessed Mary, Mother and Figure of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ.
The monastery is organized in such a manner as to lead the monks to intimate union with Christ, since only a bond of love between each monk and God will allow the blossoming of graces specific to the Cistercian vocation. The monks will find their contentment by persevering in a simple life, hidden and laborious, only if they prefer nothing to God, who leads them all, together, to eternal life.
