17When he is to be received, he comes before the whole community in the oratory and promises stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience.
18This is done in the presence of God and his saints to impress on the novice that if he ever acts otherwise, he will surely be condemned by the one he mocks.
19He states his promise in a document drawn up in the name of the saints whose relics are there, and of the abbot, who is present.
20The novice writes out this document himself, or if he is illiterate, then he asks someone else to write it for him, but himself puts his mark to it and with his own hand lays it on the altar.
21After he has put it there, the novice himself begins the verse: Receive me, Lord, as you have promised, and I shall live; do not disappoint me in my hope (Ps 118[119]:116).
22The whole community repeats the verse three times, and adds "Glory be to the Father."
23Then the novice prostrates himself at the feet of each monk to ask his prayers, and from that very day he is to be counted as one of the community.
24If he has any possessions, he should either give them to the poor beforehand, or make a formal donation of them to the monastery, without keeping back a single thing for himself, 25well aware that from that day he will not have even his own body at his disposal.
26Then and there in the oratory, he is to be stripped of everything of his own that he is wearing and clothed in what belongs to the monastery.
27The clothing taken from him is to be put away and kept safely in the wardrobe, 28so that, should he ever agree to the devil's suggestion and leave the monastery—which God forbid—he can be stripped of the clothing of the monastery before he is cast out.
29But that document of his which the abbot took from the altar should not be given back to him but kept in the monastery.
We conclude the Chapter on Receiving Brothers today. We recall that there was no period of temporary vows in the time of Saint Benedict or for centuries afterwards.
Instead, the man coming to the monastery before the time of Benedict often became a monk immediately simply by putting on the habit.
Saint Benedict introduces a longer period of formation and seems actually to have invented the word "novice." Many aspects of the profession ceremony as it is described here still exist today.
The novice writes his own document of profession, it includes his promised and a reference to the saints whose relics are present and also a reference to the abbot.
The novice sings the Suscipe. Now the triple Suscipe is sung only at Solemn Profession in the Subiaco Congregation. At solemn profession the monk must rid himself of all possession and becomes, under Canon Law, incapable of owning anything.
The spirituality of all of this can make a very deep impression on the monk and on those who are witnesses of a monastic profession, especially the profession of solemn vows. The ceremony itself speaks eloquently of dying to the world and putting on Christ more and more in one's life.
Today, it is very easy for almost anyone to get dispensed from solemn vows and this is probably a mistake.
On the other hand, it does give an incredible freedom to the monk. We should know that when monks persevere, they do so from this point of freedom.
May we be free from the temptations of the evil one to leave our monastic commitment. May we grow in that commitment and become more and more completely servants of the Lord.
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