What does a monk do?

Ora et labora —pray and work—.
That is the formula that summarizes the whole life of the monk. But behind those three words there is a world: a way of life centered on the search for God, on the silence of the monastery, and on the peace of a routine offered as prayer.

A life centered on God

The monk lives to contemplate God. He does not flee the world, but embraces it from the heart, interceding for the needs of all people.
Each day, his prayer invisibly sustains the Church.
His vocation is contemplative, but not useless: monks draw grace upon the world with their silent fidelity.

The rhythm of the day: prayer, reading and work

The monk’s day revolves like a sacred clock around three pillars:

Prayer – communal and personal.
The monks pray the Divine Office, the liturgical “hours” that mark the day:

Matins or Vigils, at dawn.
Lauds, to offer the day.
Terce, Sext, and None, during work.
Vespers, in the evening.
Compline, before rest.

And at the center of it all: the Eucharist, the living heart of the monastery.

Lectio divina – the prayerful reading of the Word.
It is not academic study, but listening to the Spirit. From it sprang the great Benedictine libraries that preserved Christian and Greco-Roman culture for centuries.
Work – manual or intellectual, always offered to God.
In an abbey there can be bakers, shoemakers, gardeners, bookbinders, musicians, librarians or teachers.
Everything is done in obedience, in silence and with love.

Ora et labora: prayer made work

In the monastery there are no idle hours. Everything — singing the psalms, repairing a shoe or copying a book — is a form of prayer.
Work supports the monastery and enables works of charity.
The balance between prayer, work and study keeps the monk in peace, serene and centered on God.

The great guardians of culture

From the loving attention to lectio divina, monks naturally turned to study.
Therefore, medieval abbeys were beacons of light in dark times:
they copied manuscripts, taught people to read and sowed the foundations of European culture.

A communal life, not solitary

Although “monk” comes from the Greek monos (alone), the monk does not live isolated, but in community.
Under the guidance of an abbot, all seek “to have one heart and one soul in God”, as St. Augustine says.
The monastery is a family where each brother helps the other to reach heaven.

Not all religious are monks

Monks live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, centered on contemplation.
Friars (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites…) also consecrated, go out into the world to preach and serve.
And religious clerics (like the Jesuits) dedicate their lives to apostolate and teaching.
Each path is different, but all seek the same: God in all things.

In the words of Saint Benedict

“Put nothing before the love of Christ.”
— Rule of Saint Benedict, ch. 4