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Vocation Information: Entrance and Formation
Men who feel they may be called by the Holy Spirit to live this way of life are invited to come and visit the Monastery. We look for men who desire to search for God, to draw ever close to Jesus Christ, and to live in oneness of mind and heart in community with their brothers.
Candidates need to have a life of daily prayer, to be active in the sacramental life of the Church, to be mentally sound, and to demonstrate stability and responsibility in life. They must be faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church and her Magisterium. We find that good candidates are usually between the ages of 25 and 40, and we do not normally accept men outside that age range.
If a man visits the Monastery and, after prayer and discernment, both he and the monks feel he may be called to enter the life, an invitation is made to make an observership with the community. This is an extended time of living, praying, and working with the monks. After the observership, the interested candidate must complete an application form and have both a physical and a psychological evaluation.
When accepted, the candidate becomes a postulant. The postulancy usually lasts 6 months to a year. After postulancy, he is clothed in the monastic habit, and the one-year novitiate begins. After completion of the canonical year, the novice makes his first profession of vows. The monk may make his solemn profession as a member of the Augustinian Monks of the Primitive Observance after three to six years of vows.
As part of the solemn profession, the monk joins with our Holy Father St. Augustine in turning single-heartedly to God:
"You alone do I love, You alone do I follow, You alone do I seek."
"I am prepared to serve only you, because you alone govern justly, and I wish to be under your rule. I ask that only in your great mercy you convert me wholly to yourself and allow nothing to prevent me from coming to you. Grant that while I live, I may be temperate, strong, just, and prudent, in love with your wisdom and capable of understanding, worthy of your blessed kingdom, and one day a dweller in that Kingdom." (St. Augustine)
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