Wisterias in bloom in the prayer garden (Copy)

Porch at dusk (Copy)

A teaching session with our Founder (Copy)

Taking time to pray in silence and solitude (Copy)

Garden view with Chapel in the background (Copy)

Garden outside of the library (Copy)

Grace before picnic dinner at the General Gathering (Copy)

The Portiuncula Chapel in the spring (Copy)

Garden pathway towards the Marian Grotto (Copy)

Behind the Portiuncula chapel (Copy)

One of our Domestic priests preaching at mass (Copy)

Pathways through our prayer garden (Copy)

Members of the Monastic Community in 2018 (Copy)

What is monastic life all about?

“The world is my cloister, my body is my cell, and my soul is the monk within!”
- St Francis of Assisi

“Prefer nothing whatever to Christ.”
- st Benedict of Nursia

“The goal of our profession is the Kingdom of God. Its immediate purpose is purity of heaert, for without it, we cannot reach the goal.”
- St. John Cassian

“A monk is one who is separated from all and united with all.”
- Evagrius the solitary

The monks of old were men and women of solitude. They went to the desert, the wilderness, the mountains and the woods. They went out alone to pray. They went to seek God alone. They left the distractions and illusions of both a lukewarm church and secularized world to find the freedom to follow Jesus. They went to break free of the chains of compromise. Only then could they set anyone else free at all. They didn’t just go into the desert to escape the world; they went into the desert to face reality … to ultimate spiritual realities of life and death, the devil, the human soul, and God. They went into the desert to confront the evils of the world — found in their soul — so to discover realistic alternatives in Christ.

The Christian monk is one who has given up all to follow Jesus Christ, and Him alone. He (or she) does this without compromise. He does this in a way that is uncluttered and clear. He does this in the hope of heaven. He does this to purify his heart even while working here on earth. The monastic life, then is an overall integrated way to make the initial break with the world of sin to more radically follow Christ without excuse within a community. It is also a way to provide the necessary and ongoing discipline as a way of life to keep our hearts focused on Christ in a way that is simple and pure. It is a safe and sure way to mature spiritually in the Lord.

What if there was a way to realign all the pieces of our confusing and wounded lives and learn how to live the life that God intended us to live?

What if I found the courage to face my inner world?

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What is monastic life all about?