The Ideal of the Monk

 

We are a community of approximately 30 monks, living under the rule of St. Benedict and according to the directions that we have received from Saints Robert, Alberic and Etienne, the Holy Founders of the Order of Cîteaux (1098). We live together, because a common call has brought us together: the call to seek God and to only live for Him. Despite our human limitations and miseries, we wish to help ourselves become, as a whole, this "great collective sacrament that radiates over the world the meaning of divine primacy", as beautifully expressed by the reverend Maurice Zundel.

Together, we wish to make our community and our monastery a place of conversion, a place of compassion and a place of contemplation.

Place of conversion

Conversion is a never-ending work of truth, a progressive entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. It is a new birth wherein the Spirit gradually shapes the child of God within each of us.

Conversion is first and foremost a daily and continuous spiritual battle. We have come to the monastery to assist ourselves in this battle with powerful tools: obedience and humility, solitude and silence, ascetism and manual labor, the love and assistance of our brothers. These are powerful means that slowly, little by little, lead us to purity of heart and never ending union with God in Christ.

Through the grace of God and the awareness of our personal fragility, we have come to the monastery in order to benefit from the lengthy experience and well tested means of spiritual combat. Some say that our way of life is an escape. Our monastic fathers have not been afraid to use this expression and we ought not fear it in our day and age. Our life is an escape, but not an escape from our human responsibilities. Yes, it is an escape: it is a flight forward, toward God, so that we can successfully live out the fundamental responsibility that is our life as children of God.

Place of compassion

We have all come to the monastery in search of God’s mercy: a mercy often mediated by our brothers' mercy, by their understanding, by their forgiveness, their help and patient support. This is the unique request that we make when we receive the monastic habit, for we know well that our brothers' mercy will be as necessary as our daily bread.

We also promise to give the same mercy that we ask for. The abbot must be a visible sign and a constant reminder to the community of this mercy. The abbot must "hate the faults, but love the brothers". Through this mutual compassion when faced with our weaknesses, our slowness and difficulties, we give ourselves once again courage in this battle and we reveal our best selves. The brother who has assumed his own fragility becomes capable of compassion towards other’s sufferings and can kindle in them the hope of salvation.

Our intercession for the salvation of the world springs from this compassion. By our humble prayer of love, we wish to envelop this world so loved by God, this world that he saves through his Son’s inestimable love.

 

Place of contemplation

 

Following the paths of conversion and compassion, we are imperceptibly led to the doors of contemplation, to the encounter of the living God. We progressively discover a God who seeks us much more than we seek him. A God who nourishes us by his Word and gives us a thirst for his Word. A God who is both Father and source of life. A God who is only Love, salvation and forgiveness.

To contemplate is to experience the wonder of faith. To contemplate is to allow ourselves to be invaded by the peace of God. To contemplate is to have our spiritual desire filled with joy and at the same time, to have an even greater hunger and thirst, for God is infinite: infinite Being, infinite Love. The God of Jesus Christ, a never-ending, inexhaustible mystery!

This is the great challenge that greets us every morning in our community here, at Oka: to become a place of conversion, compassion and contemplation. Together, as brothers, we wish to take up this challenge so that, along with St. Benedict we can desire that "Christ lead us together to eternal life".