*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
Resonating with the Monk Manifesto. Thank you.
Yes. I commit to these things as I find they are the ways of living I had already embraced in Christ.
I am on this path now and look forward to continued growth and inspiration. I commit to the manifesto.
I commit to following this Monk Manifesto to the best of my ability and I pray that my abilities will increase with time and practice.
Silence and Solitude are much needed practices that I would like to incorporate into daily life with the added benefit of having the posture of silence and solitude radiate from me.
Hospitality is very much of who I and has been validated by pursuing a Benedictine sense of prayer and spirituality. I am temporary absent from my Oblate Community due to some other obligations.
Community has been my mantra for as long as I can remember, but lately I have found it difficult to become more stable within the group I associate. I never really know how much to reveal about myself in order to see if I fit.
Kinship with Creation is all around me. I live in a little town within a large city structure and our house is at the end of a little dirt road. I have trees and plants everywhere. We had such a large puddle last year in our driveway that one day I found a Great Blue Heron standing in the middle. I also have two dogs that keep me connected in wonderful unexpected ways.
Work is homemaking and grand parenting. I make quilts, jewelry, paper arts, knit, read and a little bit of this and that. I am also a certified Spiritual Director.
Sabbath is a practice that I struggle with finding real balance. I have been doing research (reading) because I want to present a women’s program on Sabbath Keeping in the 21st century in the age of non-stop technology. When I hear the word Sabbath I think of sacred.
Conversion is an ongoing event for me, releasing more of my desires and wants to become empty so that the Holy can fill me with His treasures. I am Roman Catholic by choice and continue to explore what that means to me in my everyday life. Not as a challenge but with humility and love.
Creative Joy what my fingers and mind and lips can express. The blend of colors in a quilt or smoothie, waving my elephant trunk arm to illustrate a story I am telling my granddaughter. It is celebration of the energy that runs through me daily.
I am so happy to have found this Sacred Space with like-hearted pilgrims. I commit myself to practices of Silence, Hospitality, Awareness, Sabbath, ongoing Transformation, and Cultivating Creative Joy! Thank you for this opportunity to be a Dancing Monk in the World!
Dear fellow Dancing Monks,
How grateful I am to have found you. With God’s help, I joyfully join hands with you all, and with courage garnered from unity with each of you, I commit my heart to live a compassionate, contemplative and creative life.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of our habitations
be stretched out;
hold not back, lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.”
Isaiah 54:2
Kind regards,
Kristen Silveira
Yes I am committed to living a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life. Thank you and I look forward to what lies ahead and within.
Amazing! What a beautiful offering you have provided. This has inspired me and will be considered as a synchronicity in my own path towards a PhD looking at the intersection between art making and pursuit of spirituality!
Yes. It’s time I cease striving and begin being. Yes, I will.
I am the Abbot Primus of the Benedictine Congregation of St. Romuald. Your manifesto is first class and I assure you of my continued prayers.
Abbot +Thomas Hugh, OSB (csr)