Observership
The last step in initial discernment is an observership. The objective of this step is to allow the observer to see our life from another point of view. This step fosters an understanding of God, the community, and most importantly an experience of personal goodness. If the result of this period is one of increased hope, desire for monastic life and love for the community, the formators of the community invite the observer to return for the postulancy.
Goal: To discern and test the desire for monastic life.
Procedure: Discussions with the vocations director and visiting the community, culminating in an extended visit.
Time: One year or more
Practices and Observances (which foster the spiritual experience of the observer)
Excerpts from the Ratio Institutionis (Guidelines on Formation) on the reception of new candidates:
§20
Persons who desire to enter the community will be led to the monastery by various natural and supernatural motives. These aspirants will be helped by those who receive them to discover the working of God in their lives and the nature of the attraction they experience. Several visits to the monastery guesthouse, retreats, and possibly a period spent within the community will be the usual means taken to arrive at such a discernment. Those with insufficient knowledge of Christian doctrine will be invited to complete their catechetical preparation.
§21
Since it is not unusual that an attraction to deeper prayer life is first perceived as a call to a more contemplative form of religious life, candidates will be asked to examine seriously whether God is really inviting them to the monastic life or whether he wants them to remain in their present vocation. All candidates will be encouraged to give themselves totally to God in whatever way he is calling them.
§22
When candidates have demonstrated positive signs of a Cistercian vocation, the superior receives them, after discussing the matter fully with the novice director and, if there is one, the vocation director. These positive signs include: the sincere desire to embrace the life of the community as a means to union with God; the necessary physical, mental and emotional health to live their vocation fruitfully; the "spiritual disposition" referred to in C 46. 1, which is a humble docility born of faith, hope and love, making the candidate eager to learn and instinctively open to both the solitary and the communal dimensions of Cistercian life. The positive decision of the local superior who receives the candidate is also a necessary criterion for establishing the presence of a Cistercian vocation.
§23
Candidates must present certificates of baptism and confirmation and of freedom from obligations due to others. In the case of priests, seminarians, present or former members of institutes of consecrated life, and those needing dispensation from impediments, the specific requirements of Canon Law are followed. An up-to-date medical certificate is also required. There will be times when competent psychological testing is to be recommended.
Goal: To discern and test the desire for monastic life.
Procedure: Discussions with the vocations director and visiting the community, culminating in an extended visit.
Time: One year or more
Practices and Observances (which foster the spiritual experience of the observer)
- Work, solitude, liturgy, and prayer.
- Renunciation of self and surrender to the work and will of God.
- Learning about monastic values, especially the role of lectio divina, the spiritual father, spiritual friendship, and cistercian simplicity.
- Living in community.
Excerpts from the Ratio Institutionis (Guidelines on Formation) on the reception of new candidates:
§20
Persons who desire to enter the community will be led to the monastery by various natural and supernatural motives. These aspirants will be helped by those who receive them to discover the working of God in their lives and the nature of the attraction they experience. Several visits to the monastery guesthouse, retreats, and possibly a period spent within the community will be the usual means taken to arrive at such a discernment. Those with insufficient knowledge of Christian doctrine will be invited to complete their catechetical preparation.
§21
Since it is not unusual that an attraction to deeper prayer life is first perceived as a call to a more contemplative form of religious life, candidates will be asked to examine seriously whether God is really inviting them to the monastic life or whether he wants them to remain in their present vocation. All candidates will be encouraged to give themselves totally to God in whatever way he is calling them.
§22
When candidates have demonstrated positive signs of a Cistercian vocation, the superior receives them, after discussing the matter fully with the novice director and, if there is one, the vocation director. These positive signs include: the sincere desire to embrace the life of the community as a means to union with God; the necessary physical, mental and emotional health to live their vocation fruitfully; the "spiritual disposition" referred to in C 46. 1, which is a humble docility born of faith, hope and love, making the candidate eager to learn and instinctively open to both the solitary and the communal dimensions of Cistercian life. The positive decision of the local superior who receives the candidate is also a necessary criterion for establishing the presence of a Cistercian vocation.
§23
Candidates must present certificates of baptism and confirmation and of freedom from obligations due to others. In the case of priests, seminarians, present or former members of institutes of consecrated life, and those needing dispensation from impediments, the specific requirements of Canon Law are followed. An up-to-date medical certificate is also required. There will be times when competent psychological testing is to be recommended.
