We, the Sisters and Brothers of Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery, desire to live only for God. We therefore pledge to listen for the voice of the Holy One calling us every day, laying aside the heavy burden of self-will and following Christ through the Benedictine manner of life (RB Prol). Our way of living out the monastic promise (RB 58.17) consists chiefly in these essentials:
We strive to pray the Psalms (RB 19) at least twice each day, knowing that they are the ancient prayers of the church and of our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope that by faithfully observing this practice in the school of the Lord’s service, our hearts and minds will over time take on the shape of Christ’s own and we will become more like him.
We attend the common prayer of this community as often as we are able.
We will read Scripture every day (RB 48), believing that God meets us in this holy time of communion.
We pray for one another daily as a sign of our stability in this community.
We commit to regular Sunday worship with a local faith community, and to those practices which are common to all the baptized.
When a call for service to the community is made, we promise to respond with due consideration, having obedience foremost in our mind (RB 5, 71).
We are faithful to monthly participation in the monastery’s formation gatherings. Deans and initial formation guides shall be chosen for their holy lives and skill with souls (RB 21.1; 58.6) and will have pastoral responsibility of the community members assigned to their care. These leaders will take care that meetings are set at such times that inasmuch as possible every member may attend. Since formation gatherings are the principal way by which we grow in our understanding of what it means to be monastic, experience ourselves as community and bind ourselves together more closely to Christ, we hold these meetings in such esteem that our absence from them will be rare.
We endeavor to attend the community’s annual retreat whenever possible—at least once every three years, trusting that we can rely on God’s gracious bounty and the monastery’s practice of community of goods when financial assistance is needed.
This is the covenant by which we eagerly follow Christ in Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery, that in all things God may be glorified (RB 57.9; 1 Peter 4:11). Ratified on the Feast of Saint Gregory the Great, 3 September 2010 Revised and Renewed 3 September 2013, 1 February 2021