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Welcome to the website of the The Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey. Lay Cistercians are devoted to nourishing and sustaining individuals who recognize a personal call that is experienced in community as a gift from God. We define it as a call to be an active witness of Christ and his Church in the midst of the world, providing a prayerful and contemplative testimony in a life defined by the values of the Cistercian charism. This life is guided by the Rule of Saint Benedict as a concrete way to interpret the Gospel, and by our Cistercian Fathers and Mothers. This personal call is a means of continuous conversion, one that leads to a rediscovery and deepening of the grace of our baptism and the development of an adult faith.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT by Larry Charles, Lay Cistercian

We are a diverse community of Christ centered people seeking the will of God above all else through what seems an unlikely path, an ancient monastic tradition under the guidance of a1500 year old rule for monks. We live our lives trying to order them according to The Rule of St. Benedict in the tradition of the Cistercian (Trappist) monks.

We give ourselves over to the seeking of God’s will in our lives through spiritual formation that leads us to become people of prayer, practicing the Liturgy of the Hours, Lectio Divina (or Spiritual Reading), praying often and listening to the silence that we may receive through Grace the gift of a contemplative prayer life.

We remain active in our faith communities as well as the community of Lay Cistercians we belong to and reach out to help build community for others interested in our way of life.

We study the Rule of Benedict and the Cistercian values seeking insight to ourselves and letting them mold our modern lives towards simplicity, silence, prayer and community. We exist with the blessing of The Abbey of Gethsemani and are guided by their counsel to ensure our lay Cistercian presence in the world reflects the monastic call to love and sacrifice through work and prayer for God Alone.

Excerpted from the prologue to the Rule; a summation of our calling:

“Listen Carefully…Let us get up…Let us open our eyes…Our ears…to the voice from heaven that every day calls out…seeking His workmen…the Lord calls out”: “Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?” (Ps 33[34]:13)

“If you hear this and your answer is, I do”: “keep your tongue free from vicious talk and your lips from all deceit; turn away from evil and do good; let peace be your quest and aim” (Ps 33[34]:14-15)

“Once you have done this, my eyes will be upon you and my ears will listen for your prayers; and even before you ask me, I will say to you: Here I am” (Is 58:9)

“What, dear brothers (and sisters), is more delightful than this voice of the Lord calling to us?”

Our History:

Our LCG community was founded in 1989 as Cistercian Lay Contemplatives by a group of eight laypersons who individually were exploring a framework in which to live lives as ordinary Christians according to the Cistercian tradition. Some members of the original group independently had been expressing to the Guestmaster at Gethsemani their desire to adopt a way of life that allowed an integration of Cistercian monastic practices into their lives as laypersons.

Eventually, the Guestmaster, Fr. Michael Casagram, invited the group to meet at Gethsemani beginning in 1986 to collectively explore how they might more formally develop a structure that would guide them to actualize a “lay expression” of Cistercian values and practices. The group met regularly for three years and developed a rule or guide for living the Cistercian way of life as laypersons. The document that emerged was the Plan of Life.

Michael Brown, Dom Bernardo, Mike Johnson

In August 2001, Fr. Michael Casagram drafted a document entitled, “Toward the Formation of LCG Members,” that along with the Plan of Life provides specific guidelines for being formed as Lay Cistercians.