Our website intends to answer the needs of men and women discerning a call from God to be a Trappist monk or nun. Monks support and encourage the brother encountering difficulties, and they celebrate with one another during joyful times. Following Christ under a rule and an abbot, we Trappist monks lead lives of prayer, work, and sacred reading, steeped in the heart and mystery of the Church. The Roman Catholic order, founded in Citeaux, France, has practiced prayer nonstop for nearly a thousand years. If what you see and read here awakens in you a desire to follow Christ in the silence and solitude of a Trappist monastery, know that this is God working in your heart in response to our prayers. I will want to follow and pursue what I love with my whole heart, with all my strength. The Monastic Guest Program is as close as you can get to living an authentic monastic life without pursuing a possible vocation. St. Benedict instructed, “No one is to pursue what he judges better for himself, but instead, what he judges better for someone else. Basic Requirement for Becoming a monk. But their rich and ancient traditions also offer vital lessons on leadership for those of us living in it. This process takes about a year. The Abbey, 150 miles south of downtown Cincinnati near Bardstown, Ky., has been home to a community of Trappist monks for 150 years. Now is your opportunity to live, work and pray with the Trappist Monks of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit. To their fellow monks, they show the pure love of brothers” (RB 72:7-8). It takes time, prayer and patience but once I get in touch with this deep down place of my desire, everything will be changed, transformed. The Abbey is a monastery in the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (OCSO), part of the body of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a member of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, Kentucky, living there from 1941 to his death. Discern with the Vocation Director if God is calling you to the monastery and if Trappist life is a good fit for you personally. Trappist monks live apart from the world. This process is different at every monastery, but typically requires an interview and some kind of demonstration of faith (usually in the form of a … Brother Paul is a 79-year-old monk who has lived the monastic life at the Abbey of Gethsemani since he was 18. Responsible for supporting themselves, they have been entrepreneurs for just as long. The monastery must be assured that you can respond to the demands of close community living and contribute toward its need to earn its daily bread. Observership. Apply for ordination to become a Buddhist monk. Thomas Merton OCSO (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist, and scholar of comparative religion.On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the priesthood and given the name "Father Louis". After your period of postulation is over, you can apply to become ordained as a monk. This gives way after profession to a less well-defined movement of ongoing formation which is actually unique to each sister and continues throughout her life. If you make a commitment to pursue the monastic life, some of the monks will assist you in discerning if you are called to monastic life at Mepkin. You should be Catholic, unmarried, free of family obligations etc. 2. Becoming a Monk. TRAPPIST PRESERVES. Become a resident within the community for a longer period of time and experience all dimensions of monastic life, including private and communal prayer, manual work, solitude, community life. If the discernment is positive, you may be invited to join the community as a “postulant.” They lead a life of contemplation, work, prayer, peace, and quiet. Meet a Monk. You should be in good physical and mental health. Becoming a Monk Becoming a Monk. Becoming a Cistercian nun is a gradual process which moves through a number of well-defined stages in what is called initial formation.