*quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict
For a PDF version of the Monk Manifesto click the link to download a printable file.
The Monk Manifesto is also available in Spanish, German, and Norwegian translations. Click here for PDFs of Manifesto del Monje, Mönchs Manifest, and Munkemanifestet.
We invite you to. . .
Monk: from the Greek monachos meaning single or solitary, a monk in the world does not live apart but immersed in the everyday with a single-hearted and undivided presence, always striving for greater wholeness and integrity
Manifesto: from the Latin for clear, means a public declaration of principles and intentions.
Monk Manifesto: A public expression of your commitment to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.
*quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict
1,669 Responses
I am so thankful to find a community like this, and I commit to journeying with each of you along the monastic path.
I retired two years ago and have entered into a three year program of discernment and study to earn my certificate in Spiritual Companion. I have been looking for a community of prayer, contemplation, and friends who will join me on this journey and the continuing journey that comes afterwards.
I am a retired pastor whose inner monk has been seeking a way for many years….later years into my calling I became wounded by and enchanted with the institutional Church so I have spent these past years becoming re-enchanted with the universal Church where disorder and imperfection are made beautiful by the One who created all order in a way that allows for disorder and the-order. Blessed to have found this space and community!
As a pilgrim on the journey I want to join with others in seeking to live this life of surrender to God.
As a Benedictine oblate, I am continually looking for ways to strengthen and sustain my commitment to both my own spiritual life and my monastery and its charism. This platform gives me a beautiful opportunity to do both. Truly grateful.
I’ve found myself on this path for a while now and am very excited to walk it with other who are equally committed. It feels lonely sometimes, it’s good to see that we are with many. I offer my “dancing monkness” to others through coaching and what I’ve called “contemplative companionship” and through my volunteering work for De Luisterlijn, the Dutch equivalent of the Samaritan hot line.
My daily intention is this:
“ I want to be more loving in my heart that, with unconscious awareness and deliberate intent, I shall be a kind, generous, gracious human being, in service of others, benefiting others.
Thus, those who walk the way with me may find it easier to love, to be gracious because of divine love, which is increasingly expressed in my living”
I have been on this journey for a while and am very happy to share it with my fellow dancing monks.
As God has Called us into oneness, so shall I also be called into oneness with Nature, and companions I encounter on this journey. Listening for that voice which calls out to us in the silence of the day.