The monastic life is a framework for an individual to give himself or herself AWAY.... to God.... forever. This donation is expressed in three solemn, lifetime promises, or vows: obedience, stability and conversion of manners.

Obedience

The first paragraph of Benedict's Rule speaks about it: "To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience." Cenobites are those who live under a Rule and desire to have an abbot over them - one who is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery. Much is made over obedience to the Rule and to the Abbot, but the monks must never lose sight of the fact that the ultimate object of all our obedience is to God. Obedience to the Rule and the Abbot is but a means to the end; it must never become a substitute for it. The monks also listen intently to the promptings of the Holy Spirit by practicing obedience to one another - not in a servile military fashion, but as fellow disciples, in whom and through whom the Spirit "blows where He will."

Stability

The monastic call is not "a part-time job! "Stability means a life-long commitment -- come what may -- to seek God in this particular monastery, whatever its ups and downs might prove to be, until death. This can, at times, assume the aspect of having your flesh firmly nailed to a most unwelcome piece of wood; at other times, it will seem more like the warm union of family, where permanency is the most reassuring part. You can't have one without willingness to accept the other.

Conversion of Manners

"Conversio morum," (an almost untranslatable Latin phrase), entails the firm resolution to live by Christian monastic ideals. It means celibacy, simplicity of life, poverty, humility, listening in faith, and living by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Since their treasure is in heaven, monks are reminded to "be content with all that is mean and poor," and "are not permitted to have even their bodies or wills at their own disposal."

"This vice (of private ownership) especially is to be cut out of the monastery by the roots," Benedict counsels. Even so personal a thing as our very ideas belong, not to ourselves, but to one another. We are not to hoard them jealously as our private property, but place them before our brethren in order to help build up the community and each of its members, fostering the life of faith in all. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom10:17) "Listen" is the first word of the Rule.

More Abundant Life

A way of life emphasizing obedience, humility, poverty, solitude, servitude, and such things as "the yoke of the Rule," and, "From that day forward he will no longer have power even over his OWN body!" certainly has a negative, even an oppressive ring about it! The reality, of course, is quite the opposite. To those who seek Him wholeheartedly, Jesus offers life and more abundant life. Thus the yoke of the Rule, like feathers for a bird, (as St. Bernard remarks), while adding a certain undeniable weight, is indispensable if the monk is to fly. Far from being oppressive, it is a guide, a beacon. The narrow way to life becomes the royal road to God.