03.01 Bodily Labor
For the monastic communities that have gone before us, bodily labor was a necessary part of spiritual formation. Labor, especially bodily labor, reminds us that limits are good. Through it, we embrace both the strength and the weakness of our body and recognize in it God’s invitation to balance both activity and rest in a beautiful rhythm.
In Our Way of Life
.01
Members consider, in prayer, how they’re being invited to use the bodily labor of their daily life as an act of prayer. Domestically, our lives often require work with our body (doing the dishes, preparation of food, gardening and keeping a home) that grounds us in the reality of our bodies’ limits. We seek to pray with our bodies through all the bodily limits we experience.
Members consider as well how they might be invited to introduce both healthy rhythms and healthy practices of bodily labor into their developing way of life.
Discernment and practice of this commitment is very particularized to each member.
.02
Members living in a common residential community will be prepared to receive a job, according to their skill and ability, that supports the economy and sustainability of the community. Each job should support the community’s operations (food preparation, maintenance) or the community’s chosen vocational work (farming, beekeeping, baking, making).
.03
Members living near a common residential community will discern together with the community what labor they might be invited to contribute. Each job should support the community’s operations (food preparation, maintenance) or the community’s chosen vocational work (farming, beekeeping, baking, making).
We want to accompany you in noticing and nurturing invitations to redemptive labor in your life.
Learn about our postulancy cohorts, which walk you through the common commitments of our rule of life, as a shared way of life in community.