What is the cistercian life? It is the offering of worship to God in a life hidden within a monastery that follows the Rule of St. Benedict; a life balanced by the celebration of the liturgy, the practice of lectio divina, and the performance of work to support ourselves. In an atmosphere of quiet and solitude, the community lives under the guidance of its abbot, the representative of Christ.
As a community we sing the Divine Office, celebrate the Eucharist, we listen to the abbot’s chapter talks, we gather for community dialogues. The charism is found in the sharing of the common life, in decision-making through the common will,
expressions of love and respect for the brothers and for the place.
In our cistercian life we also discover our poverty: the lack of mercy, the lack of appreciation, the impatience sometimes felt and shown to our brothers, when our personal preferences, or private ideals, are not chosen by the community. In the broken plainness of our lives, we come to know and to rejoice in the need for the mercy and love of God through one another. In this way conflict can become penitence transformed into joy.

Purpose of monastic life:
For the monk, union comes through purity of heart: personal love of the Lord Jesus. It is in this love that the Cistercian vocation blossoms into life-long fruitfulness. To prefer nothing to Christ is, therefore, our purpose, our end, and our happiness.
  Liturgy
Lectio Divina
Work
Customs
   
 

 

  

This Order is a monastic institute wholly ordered to contemplation. The monks dedicate themselves to the worship of God in the hidden life within the monastery under the Rule of St Benedict. They lead a monastic way of life in solitude and silence, in assiduous prayer and joyful penitence...thus rendering to the divine majesty a service that is at once humble and noble.

-Constitutions and Statutes C.2

 

Life-long vows:------------------------------
Stability (stabilitas): the monk commits himself to seeking and serving God in a particular community and place.

Fidelity to Monastic Life (conversatio morum): essentially means choosing monastic values and their concrete expressions. This vow includes poverty and chastity.
Obedience (obedientia): the monk renounces his own will in imitation of Christ who, out of love for the Father and for us, became obedient even to death.