Vocations
Discern Your Vocation
“Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.”
Interested in discerning God’s call in your life?
Schedule a vocational discernment retreat
This is an opportunity to listen deeply to God’s voice and experience the richness of monastic life: silence, the beauty of nature, private and communal prayer, and meditation. Sisters will be available to guide personal discernment.Fill out the Online Application.
The Summer Internship Program is designed for young women who desire to a spend longer time (1-3 months) in a monastic setting. Participants do not need to be Catholics, only genuine seekers who are looking for space to learn more about themselves, the natural world, and the Creator of all Beauty. This program may be especially beneficial for those discerning their future paths in life. Read More
Fill out the Online Application.
Comments from Discernment Retreat participants:
“Everything was fantastic.”
“The joyful openness everyone fosters here. I felt free to explore the forest, which I know gives me life, but also invited to interact with everyone because of the joy with which you live.”
“To be given the chance to step into the life here. For me it was really valuable to experience for myself how a life of prayer actually works… not just the Office and Mass, but how work and living in the surroundings here are a part of the holistic prayer lifestyle.”
“The Monastic Experience Weekend is beautiful. I realized how God invites me into prayer and awareness of His goodness, lovingness to us all.”
“Personally I found the whole experience beneficial, especially meditation and lectio divina were the moments that helped me find stillness within.”
“Definitely I would recommend it (the Weekend) to people even if they are not interested in monastic life, because maybe they are, but they just are afraid to show their interest.”
Monastic life sets the seeker on a journey. We seek the One who seeks us. There is grace upon grace as we find and are found over and over again. In the context of prayer, silence, solitude, and community, this quest is nourished and shared.
If you are experiencing the stirrings of a call to monastic life, and are a Roman Catholic woman, single, between the ages of 22 and 40, and of good physical and psychological health, please do reach out to us!
To reach a true awareness of God as well as ourselves, we have to renounce our selfish and limited self and enter into a whole new kind of existence, discovering an inner center of motivation and love which makes us see ourselves and everything else in an entirely new light.
Our life is a pattern of prayer, study, meditation, and manual labor that is woven into the fabric of community, centered on Christ as our Lord and brother. We meet Him daily in the Eucharist, in lectio divina, and the “everydayness” of our monastic vocation.
Whether it is working at honey, tending the vegetable garden, cleaning the guest house, or cooking dinner, we strive to do all with a mindfulness that “the divine presence is everywhere.” (Rule of St Benedict Chapter 19:1).
Through this life we seek the grace to leave behind the old self with its well- worn ego and put on a new self made in God’s very likeness.
Slowly, in community, and with prayerful attention to our manner of living and the movements of our hearts, we seek a life in union with God so that we may offer the world a place of continual prayer.