Una breve vista del interior del Cartuja de Miraflores, construida en tiempos de los Reyes Católicos // Sight of “Cartuja de Miraflores”, built more than 600 years ago.

The Monastery of San Benedetto (priory), Norcia, Italy. Roman catholic Monks, following the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia.Founded in 1998, Rome , Italy, transferred to Norcia in the Umbria region in 2000 ad.

Why monks? In every age, God has raised up men and women who hear Christ’s call to discipleship, and respond in a radical way, leaving the comfort of friends and family to dedicate themselves completely to the Lord. The radical nature of this way of life finds a sympathetic echo in the human heart, which is “restless until it rests it Thee”, as St. Augustine put it. When the Lord Jesus walked this earth, disciples gathered round him who wanted to be with him, remain with him, abide with him forever. The monk longs to follow the Lord in the same way.

Who is eligible? Men from ages 20-40 years old, practicing their Catholic faith, docile to the Holy Spirit, and willing to take up the strong bright weapons of obedience in order to follow Christ our true King.

Our lives are very full, partly because we are a new foundation and there is much work to do, partly because the Rule establishes a rhythm of life in which prayer and work alternate with each other in a kind of stately dance.

The early monastic fathers were eager to respond to the Lord’s injunction to pray without ceasing. When St. Benedict arranges the seven moments of public prayer during the day, he does so knowing that seven is a mystical number signifying completeness or totality. When he lays out the times for lectio divina, or the prayerful rumination on the Sacred Scriptures, his intention is that prayer become so much a part of a monk’s life, part of his very breathing, that it wells up spontaneously within his heart.

The daily offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with solemn liturgical beauty, captures the heart of the monastic vocation. St. Benedict says to prefer nothing whatever to the love of Christ: where is the love of Christ more clearly shown than in his supreme gift of himself pro nobis on the Cross? St. Benedict says that the monk, when he makes his vows, is to place his vow chart on the altar at the Offertory, to be offered along with the sacrifice of Christ, to the Father. So in a very real sense, the daily offering of the Mass is a renewal of the monk’s self-offering, of his Suscipe.

Work has always been a hallmark of the monk — any kind of work, manual, clerical and intellectual — but always done with care and reverence, since the tools of the monastery should be treated like the sacred vessels of the altar.

Our monastic life is lived out in community, in that school of charity where we learn to give of ourselves for the sake of our brother. Monks come in all shapes and sizes. In any given community there is often the whole range of personality types from one end of the spectrum to the other. Living together softens our rough edges. Long practice in patience and forgiveness leads to genuine affection for our fellow monks and an appreciation of their many fine qualities which may be quite different from our own.

Abbaye du Mont des Cats, 8 juin 2008

An enclosed contemplative community of Poor Clare sisters whose monastery is in Nuns’ Island, Galway, Ireland. In fact we have been here in Galway for centuries, right back to 1642, having come through various stages from our beginnings in Gravelines, northern France, where some young Irish women had gone in search of religious life intent on returning to Ireland when persecution abated. Begun in those far off days, the same life of daily prayer and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, is ours today.

 First ever filming inside the Roman Catholic Monastic/Hermitage of the Grande Chartreuse -1964.The Order was founded by Saint Bruno in 1084a.d. and comprises a masculine and a feminine branch.

At present, the Order is composed of about 450 monks and nuns who live a solitary life at the heart of the Church; there are 24 Houses in three continents, all dedicated exclusively to the contemplative life.

The only goal of the Carthusian way is CONTEMPLATION, by the power of the Spirit, living as unceasingly as possible in the light of the love of God for us, made manifest in Christ. This implies a purity of heart, or charity: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Mt 5:8) Monastic tradition also calls this goal pure and continuous prayer.

Les Monies trappistes

La branche masculine de la famille monastique de Bethléem et de l’Assomption de la Vierge fondée en 1950 et placée sous la paternité spirituelle de saint Bruno. «Viens, suis-moi». À l’appel du Christ, des hommes ont tout quitté pour Le suivre pas à pas. On les appelle «Moines»…

D’un genre inédit, à la fois catéchèse, méditation et grand reportage, ce film vidéo entraîne aux sources de la vie monastique ; il fait partager la vie cachée et la prière de ces moines solitaires.

Meditation on monastic living and the Rule of St Benedict.

Audio excerpts of a talk at the Dominican House.

Pluscarden Abbey, near Elgin, Scotland, is a monastery of the Valliscaulian Order, founded in 1230 near Elgin, Scotland, by King Alexander II of Scotland. In 1454, the Benedictine rule was adopted there; in 1586, one monk survived. The confiscated property later came into the possession of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, who translated the breviary into English. Laterly, the monastery was elevated to the status of an abbey.