What Kind of Person Joins a Monastery?

Perhaps after your stay here at Our Lady of Bethlehem Abbey or after reading this brief glance at our life you are wondering what sort of person joins a monastery. Or you may be wondering if the monastic life is for you. The following may help:

While you may find yourself being pulled in various directions … for no man ever acts from a single motive (Dostoyevsky)… if there emerges in your heart an over-riding attraction for the monastic way of life and if this attraction or desire tends to persist, then you may have a vocation to be a monk.

An aged monk once said that while still quite young he was appointed novice master for some years, and when called to the guesthouse to interview applicants he would go to look for saints; but when he was reappointed in his later years he would go to look for sinners.

Clearly you need a basic knowledge of the Catholic faith and the experience of having lived it.

Community life means living closely with others. In this, as in everything else, the Gospel Jesus has to be the ideal and model. Someone who is content to serve others, who has a genuine concern for their good, and is able to live simply and amicably with them is the sort of person who finds contentment in community. Prayer, Lectio and Work are the pattern of a monk’s life, so he foregoes an active apostolate because he is convinced of the power of a life given to God in prayer.

No specific standard of education is required. Fundamental skills, crafts and work experience are all most acceptable, but the essential is a readiness to be open to God, to be prepared to listen.

While 18 is the minimum age for entry, many who apply today are much older and have had some experience of working for their living.