The journey of Benedictine initiation and life

They said “Yes!” The great doors of St. John’s Abbey and University Church opened to welcome nearly four hundred people whose voices and hearts filled the space with expectation. Sixteen men and women stood before the altar to receive the sacraments of initiation, taking their place among the faithful as full members of the Roman Catholic Church. For months, my colleague Bella Brinkman and I
had walked beside them through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, watching the slow, luminous
unfolding of faith. What a joy it has been to witness their growth.

As a Benedictine monk, I cannot help but see in their journey an echo of our own way of life. St. Benedict begins his Rule with a simple but demanding word: listen. These new members of the Church have listened—through months of prayer and worship, questioning, study and conversion. They have listened not only with their ears, but with their lives. And in that listening, they have heard the gentle but persistent call of God drawing them into deeper communion.

For those who received the sacrament of baptism, they were plunged into Christ’s death and raised into his life. With the sacrament of confirmation, they were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, which
strengthens them for the faith journey ahead. And in the Eucharist, they received the very Body and Blood of the Lord, now as full participants in the sacred mystery that grounds the Church. I stood among them feeling stirred, recalling my own sacraments of initiation long ago. Though my daily walk does include reminders of baptism—in the touch of holy water, in the memory of vows—seeing these catechumens rise with hair drenched and radiant from the font awakened something deeper. Their mixture of reverence, joy and holy nervousness reminded me that faith is not a finished possession but a living event, always beginning anew.

Benedictine life is grounded in stability, conversion of life and obedience. These are not static vows; rather, they are dynamic movements that involve the whole person. Our new brothers and sisters in Christ now begin to live these same movements in their own way: rooted in the Church (stability), continually turning toward God (conversion) and learning to hear God’s voice (obedience) in the ordinariness of life.

Benedictines often speak of the monastery as a “school of the Lord’s service.” In truth, the whole Church is such a school. And our sixteen newly initiated have just entered its classroom in a new and profound way. They will teach us as much as they learn—through their questions, their good zeal and their desire to live the Gospel with authenticity.

As we continue through the Easter season, let’s hold them in prayer. May the flame kindled in them burn
steadily like an Easter candle. May they find in the Church a place of real belonging, where they are noticed, named and known. And may all of us, inspired by their “yes,” listen again with hearts alive to the voice that calls each of us by name into the undying life of Christ.