All vocations in the Church are rooted in the universal call of all baptized Christians to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Risen Savior. The bishops of the Second Vatican Council wrote of this call in Lumen Gentium: “Each disciple of Christ has the obligation of spreading the faith to the best of his [or her] ability” (17). Each vocation within the Church, including the monastic vocation, offers a unique way of fulfilling that sacred obligation with the grace that God supplies through the Holy Spirit.
The distinctiveness of the Benedictine vocation is best exemplified by the profession promises that are unique to monastics: stability and fidelity to the monastic way of life. This commitment to seek God within a particular community for a lifetime, along with fidelity to the unique demands and graces of the monastic way of life, give the Benedictine vocation its distinctive character.
If you wish to learn more about the monastic vocation as it is expressed in our Benedictine community, we welcome you to contact Sr. Magdalena at (256) 615-6114 or vocations [at] shmon.org.