Have you or someone you have known had a question about being a monk or priest?
Have you known someone that you think would be good for a religious life?
Do you think he would do great things for others as he dedicates himself to God?

To have a vocation is nothing else but to have a call. That is the meaning of the word vocation. However, the way you answer that is all up to you. God has only called a few people in history with a well-defined vocation, David in the OId Testament was called to follow God and be the leader of his people, Israel John the baptizer was called to be the one who announced Jesus as the Lamb of God and baptize Him.

But for us, the answer to follow Christ is up to us. What we need to do is find out what will make us happy in life. A clear example for you is the following: If you want to work with the poor, then the Franciscan life may be fitting for you. If you want to teach at a university, the Jesuits will be the people to visit. Do you want to be a preacher and move from place to place? Maybe a life as a Dominican is your calling. However, if you are in search of God, Saint Benedict says, then come and see. This search for God is what the monks do.

This is a contemplative life, studying the History of Salvation, studying via the Holy Scriptures, and the interaction of God with His people. We call it Lectio Divina, and by meditating, praying, and contemplating God in the middle of our lives, we come to see the wonders of God’s creation.

Doing this kind of praying and meditating, John Paul II invites us to see how he meditates on the writings of the prophet Isaiah. One sees the wonderful image of God as our Father.

Pope John Paul II introducing the Our Father uses the words of the Prophet Isaiah to express not only the teachings of Christ but his view of God, so, he says:

“You are my son. Today I have created you. I will be your Father and you will be my Son. ”

Says the prophet Isaiah: “Lord, you are our Father, you are the one who has given us form and calls us to be. We are the work of your hands”. “Sion said: The Lord has abandoned me. He will say: if there is a woman who may forget or abandon her child I will say to you: I will never abandon you”.

It is highly significant that for the great prophet Isaiah, the paternity of God is inspired and enriched in the maternity of God. Says Pope John Paul, and continues:

“Jesus announces over and over again the paternity of God in his relation with men.
A constant theme in the Old Testament. However, for Jesus, God is not only the Father of Israel or the Father of humanity, but His Father, my Father, our Father: (at this point The Pope breaks into singing the Our Father.)

Pater noster qui est in caelis … My own translation of the Introduction to the Our Father by John Paul II.

These words of John Paul II are still fresh in my ears. The very first time I heard him saying what I have quoted above, tears came to my eyes, because he was talking to me, not to the masses, but in a particular way, as he says: “For Christ, God is not a father that is far away from us, but very close to me, a reality that is so palpable that we can call him Our Father.” And as my Father I can be close to him, or I can ignore him. The pope invites us to reflect on that reality, it is up to us to have a relationship with God or ignore it.

How true it is that God wants an intimate relationship with me. I want to translate it into an invitation to walk with Him in a particular way, in a way that is intimate, in a way that goes against all that this society and culture is telling me.

This is my reflection: Maybe we, today’s monks, priests, and sisters are called rebels, crazy, or are accused of being stuck in the past because we do not adjust to this society. Even our way of dress seemingly stands against the materialistic society in which we live. This reality emphasizes the fact that our monastic call is one of search for God and it is rarely in step in tune with the world.

Always going back to the roots of Christianity, searching to make a reality the evangelical councils, it is in this way that I am inviting you in a personal way to come and see how we live out our monastic call. Come and see how we try to make a reality this relationship with God and us; a relationship that could be yours and God here among us.

The vocation process at St. Leo Abbey is designed for a young man to simply explore the reality, beyond many misconceptions about monastic life, without any final decisions at this point.

The abbey perhaps even more than the candidate wants all candidates to be sure when the time comes. The vocation process is slow and supportive, personal and positive. Up to the final vows far in the future, the young man is free to leave as a friend of the abbey and with its blessing.

Stage 1: Postulancy.   All men enter the abbey as a candidate for a period of several months which leads to his postulancy. The postulancy is a time of discernment while living in the community. It allows time to learn if his attraction is something he wants to continue.  A postulant will wear the monastic tunic. It is about a six-month period. At the beginning of the Advent Season this year Br. Felix will become a postulant if he desires to proceed a step further in his monastic vocation and the abbot agrees. But he still has not made a final commitment. This is a long journey of faith. A man does not become a monk overnight or without having lived as one for several years in the fellowship of the abbey’s brotherhood. Going through all the steps to become a monk and a life-long member of a monastery takes a minimum of five years and may be ten years or more. At some point the young man comes to see that the rigor and disciplines of monastic life are ways to greater freedom in Christ, not less.

Stage 2: Novitiate.  After the postulant and the abbot agree that the postulant is ready for the next step, the postulant enters the novitiate, a time of learning more deeply of monastic life. He is given the monastic scapular to wear over the tunic and is given a new name, often the name of one of the desert fathers.

Stage 3: Simple Profession.  After a yearlong time of growth and discernment the novice may become a junior monk by the profession of simple vows. During this time he realizes another basic truth: monastic life is not so much what one gives up, but about the riches of God’s grace and love that are gained.

As a junior monk, he receives the full monastic habit. These simple vows are for one year. He repeats these simple vows each year for a total of three years.  The junior monk is free to leave at the end of each of the three year periods if he discerns with the help of the formation director that monastic life is not his calling. At the end of three years of simple vows the junior monk is still free to leave if he so desires.

The Final Stage: Solemn Vows.   After three years as a junior monk, the young man, now fully understanding the liberty of the monastic disciplines may enter into solemn vows if he is accepted by the community. At this point the monk is no longer free to leave the monastery and in fact no longer wants to leave.  Throughout the 1,500-year history of the Benedictines, the path to become a monk is not the path of the weak or timid. Nothing is equal to the spiritual courage, the full armor from the Lord, and strength he receives from our loving God.