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During his year of trial, the novitiate, the novice is instructed in the religious life in general and the Benedictine rule in particular. He is introduced to the study of Holy Scripture and to the history of the Benedictine Order. He is assigned special duties. And he lives the life along with the rest of the community. He has leisure to reflect and to determine whether this is really his vocation. Periodically, the Director of Formation reports his progress to the community.

When the year of novitiate is drawing to a close, the novice makes his decision. If he feels that this is where God intends him to be, he applies for admission to profession. If the community’s verdict is favorable, the abbot designates a suitable day on which the novice makes profession of the religious vows for a period of three years. During these three years he is a junior and is still under the care of the Director of Formation. His religious formation continues.

He takes a more active part in the family life by means of the heavier duties assigned to him. However, segments of his education will continue. If he wishes to be ordained priest, he may continue his education toward that end after final vows.

As the juniorate is nearing its end, the junior monk must again reach a decision: either to ratify his triennial vows or to return to the world, if he chooses the former, he makes his solemn profession of vows. This profession is final. The monk is now a permanent member of the community, qualified to take part in the deliberations of the Chapter, that is, of the community meeting to advise the abbot or to deal with other business. If he is to pursue the priesthood, he will continue his theological studies. Meanwhile, various duties will be entrusted to him so that he can make his own contribution to the community’s apostolate.

Absolutely essential to every form of the religious life are the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These are the great renunciations, whereby, for the sake of a more excellent good, the religious voluntarily gives up certain lawful goods. By the vow of poverty he relinquishes his right to acquire and own property of any sort. Everything that he obtains for his use is given to him by the abbot, or, with the abbot’s permission, by someone outside the community. The community as such will own the property that is necessary for the lodging and support of the members, and for the carrying out of its apostolate, but the individual religious can own nothing. By the vow of chastity, he voluntarily yields his right to marry and to establish a family of his own. His monastic family and the larger family of God’s People have replaced the family he might have founded. Without a wife and children of his own, he can give himself wholeheartedly and without distraction to the seeking of intimate union with God and to the service of God’s People. By the vow of obedience the religious gives up his right to determine his life. His abbot is the visible representative of Christ in the community and decides in what external activity each monk shall engage. The abbot does not make such decisions arbitrarily or capriciously. The monk himself is consulted and an effort is made to determine what he is best suited for. But the abbot’s decision must also consider the larger general good of the community and the needs of the Church, and the monk must prefer this common welfare to his own personal wishes.

All religious make profession of these three essential vows, but the Benedictine mentions only obedience specifically. In addition, he binds himself by two other vows. The vow of stability guarantees the existence of the family. In taking it the monk promises to remain for life in the community in which he made profession. The vow of conversatio morum obliges the monk to live the Benedictine form of the cenobitic life in his striving for perfection.

The monastic life is based on the profession of the vows. By them the monk deprives himself of certain goods which could be an obstacle to his total giving of self to God. On the ground thus cleared he must erect the edifice of a deep inner life. The life that he has chosen is especially adapted to this work of construction. He sees Christ in his abbot, in the sick, and in guests. The common life is an especially important help because the monks aid one another by their example, their encouragement, their sympathy, their fraternal love, and their mere closeness. In the celebration of the liturgy the community stands before God several times a day and calls down His blessing on its members and their work. The monk spends part of his day in private prayer and meditation, communing with God in his own soul. His spiritual reading provides ever new inspiration and motivation. Frequent conferences by the abbot and the annual retreat encourage him to take stock of his situation, point out dangers and weaknesses, and enable him to make constant improvement. And in his and the community’s apostolate he serves God by ministering directly to his fellowmen, seeking, in Saint Benedict’s words, “that in all things God may be glorified.”

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