The Vows
Share a life of deep commitments.
After at least two years of formation in postulancy and the novitiate, you may be invited to take vows with the Order of the Common Life, beginning with an initial 12 months.
Our threefold vows
Beyond the commitments in our rule of life, we recognize an invitation to an even deeper level of commitment to our shared life and work, which we offer to God in community. These are called vows.
Our vows function as a threefold cord to reimagine the traditional Benedictine vows of conversatio morum, obedience and stability for 21st century contexts.
Conversatio morum
The “conversion of manners” or “continual conversion of life” means we’re constantly leaning into life of invitations. Our formation in the love of God has no end. We vow to keep listening for God’s invitations for us in all things, always, even when uncomfortable.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit
Beyond committing to a discerning life, we vow that as we discern God’s invitations for us, we’ll say yes—every time, with whatever love we have. While the Gospel calls us to submit to one another, the obedience we vow is only to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Stability
As a dispersed order, with many members spread across N. America and the globe, the stability we vow is less to a location than to our community and commitments. If our other vows are to listen and to say yes, “stability” is our vow to remain in our yeses.
Initial vows
Initial vows last one year. They’re made in the presence of members of the Order and its director after a novice has:
Completed the Discernment of Vows course in fulfillment of their novitiate
Met with a clearness committee and formation guide
Articulated a discerned sense of personal vocation
Developed a personal expression of our rule (a “customary”) for the next year
Vowed members continue to meet in their monthly formation groups and at quarterly chapter meetings while living into their customary with the support of our community.
Renewal of vows
Vowed members can renew their vows for between one and four years at a time, as many times as they desire. With each renewal of vows, members:
Reflect searchingly on their vowed life and the interior work it’s done and is desired to do
Meet again with a clearness committee and formation guide
Discerningly revise their customary for the next year of vowed life
Final vows
After at least five years of vows with the Order, members can petition to make lifelong vows. While lifelong vows are the final formal stage of formation, this level of commitment isn’t an expectation, and formation under our rule is never truly complete.
Vowed life—even under “final vows”—is perpetually dynamic, always seeking deeper formation, always growing in our commitments and our clarity of God’s invitations for us, always learning to love as God loves.
This is the meaning of our vows of conversatio morum, obedience and stability.