Centered On Christ: A Guide to Monastic Profession(5 Monastic Wisdom Series)

"Hidden in every human heart is a monk." For men and women in the cloister and in the world, Augustine Roberts explores the inner meaning of the conversatio morum, conversion of life, that underlies Benedictine life. The first, Spanish, edition of this book drew heavily on novitiate notes by Thomas Merton; in this third, completely revised edition, the author takes into account two new factors 'Vita Consecrata, Pope John Paul II's 1996 Apostolic Exhortation, and the postmodern secularization which has deeply affected Christians. By clarifying various aspects of monastic living, Augustine Roberts explains how the signs of monastic living and commitments of monastic profession relate to the "evangelical counsels," Jesus's invitation to leave al things and follow him.

Table of Contents:
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword   xiii      by Bernardo Olivera, OCSO Preface   xv Abbreviations xxi      CHAPTER ONE Entering the Monastery   1      1. Following Jesus   1         Gospel Life   1         Consequences for Today   6      2. Profession through the Centuries   8         Beginnings: 50–450   8         Middle Ages: 450–1450   10         New Understanding   13         Promises of Profession according to Saint Benedict   16         For Further Reflection   17      CHAPTER TWO Roots of Monastic Life   20      1. Apostolic Life   21         Christ’s Way of Life   22         Vocabulary of Discipleship   23         From the Desert to St. Benedict   27         Shared Conversatio   28      2. What Is Monastic Life?   32         Desert Fathers   34         John Cassian   35         Rule of St. Benedict   37       3. Evangelical Counsels?   40         Vatican II and Afterwards   40         An Umbrella Term   42         For Further Reflection   45      CHAPTER THREE Commitments of Conversatio   47      1. Overview   47      2. Basic Observances   50         Withdrawal from Society   53         Life of Prayer   59         Gospel Austerity   69         Common Life   76         Monastic Work   80      3. Lack of Fidelity   86         Abandonment of Monastic Life   86         Expressions of Defective Conversion   87      4. The Spirit of Continual Conversion   88         Principal Factor in Monastic Life   90         Passover to the Father   91         Leaving the World   93         Purity of Heart   95         Transformation in Christ   97         For Further Reflection   99      CHAPTER FOUR Consecrated Chastity   102      1. Meaning of Consecrated Chastity   102          Poverty, Chastity, Obedience   102         Central Element of Religious Profession   104         Note on Terminology   105      2. Basic Requirements   108         State of Consecrated Virginity   108         Cultivation of Chastity   109         Human Sexuality   111      3. Christ and Chastity   114       4. Other Levels of Sexuality   118         Chastity and Sensuality   118         Chastity and Eros   119         Chastity and Friendship   122         Practical Summary   126      5. Fruits of Consecrated Virginity   128         Sponsa Christi 128 Prayer   129         Affective Maturity   131         Virginity and Monastic Life   132         For Further Reflection   134      CHAPTER FIVE Benedictine Poverty   136      1. Types of Religious Poverty   137         Benedictine Poverty   138         Personal Poverty   142         Communal Poverty   143      2. Responsibilities   144         Personal Poverty and Detachment   144         Common Life and Productive Work   146         Responsibility for Communal Poverty   153      3. Toward a Mature Poverty   156         Immature Poverty   156         Growth in the Life of Poverty   157         For Further Reflection  160     CHAPTER SIX Monastic Obedience   162      1. Christian Obedience   162         Human Intermediaries   162         Obedience in Christ   165      2. A Special Vow 169         God’s Redemptive Plan   169         Church Authority   172       3. Obedience and Fidelity   176         Exterior Commitments   176         Spirit of Monastic Obedience   179         Reciprocal Need   182         The Word of Christ   184      4. Obedience, Weak and Strong   185         Breaking Communion   186         Vow, Virtue, and Counsel   189         How Do We Grow in Obedience?   192      5. Dialogued Obedience   195         Through Dialogue to Obedience   196         Qualities of Dialogue   198         Practical Summary   199         For Further Reflection   201         CHAPTER SEVEN Cenobitic Stability   203      1. Commitment to Stability   204         Different Interpretations   205         Benedictine Stability   206         Lack of Stability   207      2. Special Situations   208         Foundations   208         Obedience   210         Health   210         Greater Spiritual Good   211      3. The Spirit of Stability   215         Monastic Stability According to the Desert Fathers   216         Cenobitic Stability among the First Cistercians   218         Doctrinal Reflections   222      4. Person and Community   226          Which Comes First?   226         Spirituality of Communion   230       5. Love of the Order   233         What Is Love of One’s Order?   234         Stability and Structural Change   238         Stability and Faith   240         For Further Reflection   242      CHAPTER EIGHT Spirituality and Profession   243      1. Spiritual Methods   244      2. Features of a Triple Way   247         Spiritual Art 248         Anthropology of the Three Methods   251      3. A Christic Milieu   258      4. Observance, Prayer, Humility   262         Monastic Observance   262         Lectio Divina   265         Humility   268         Practical Consequences   276         Vows and the Following of Christ   281      5. Profession “According to the Rule of St. Benedict”   283         Primacy of Conversatio   284         Resolving a Dilemma   285         For Further Reflection   288    CHAPTER NINE Beyond the Profession Ceremony   290    1. Summing Up   290         What Profession Means   290         Conversatio   294      2. A Life of Love   296         Promise, Profession, and Intention   296         Consecration   300         Experiencing Jesus   303         Person, Community, and Profession   308       3. Into the Beyond   311         Life-Giving Spirit   311         Guiding the Human Family   314         For Further Reflection   316      APPENDIX Diagrams on the Dynamics of Monastic Profession   317 Diagram I:   Conversatio morum: Fidelity to Monastic Life   317 Diagram II:   Methods in Benedictine Spirituality   318 Diagram III:  Monastic Profession and Beyond   319 Thematic Index   320

About the Author :
Augustine Roberts, OCSO, has been a Trappist monk since the early 1950s. After serving as abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, he became Procurator General of the Trappist Order. In the 1960s he was one of the founders of the first abbey of his Order in South America, later serving as its abbot. Today he is a much sought-after guide, called to help many communities in the delicate task of adapting the perennial monastic way of life to the needs of the twenty-first century. Bernardo Olivera, OCSO, is abbot of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles in Azul, Argentina. He served as Abbot General of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance from 1990 to 2008. Dom Bernardo is author of How Far to Follow? The Martyrs of Atlas (Cistercian Publications), as well as many books published in South America.

Review :
This book ought to be read by many, not only those within monastic communities. The hope might be that in time the wider audience of the Church could come to see the book's unique contribution to the spiritual life of conformity, conversion, and transformation that each Christian is called to achieve with Christ and by his grace.Cistercian Studies Quarterly