A man or woman becomes an Urban Monk by committing to the following activities of the Society of Urban Monks:
Creating An Integrative Rule of Life
Creating an Integrative Rule of Life results in a living document that is based upon the precepts of the Society of Urban Monks. Creating such a document will result in transformation that will act as a powerful reason to shape or reshape your values, principles, and opinions about yourself and the people and places that you are involved with. Creating such a document will also enable you to help others take positive actions to overcome problems and related issues that negatively affect the quality of their life, including their spirituality.
Celebrating the Liturgical Year
Celebrating the Liturgical Year allows for reflective discovery of the deeper meanings on the Christian faith by focusing on the mysteries of Christ’s life. Such discovery is collectively practiced by participating in vigils on the eve of liturgical seasons such as Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.
Celebrating Monastic Masses
Monastic masses are integrative experience during which various spiritual practices become integrative tools during the liturgy that include the Examination of Conscience in the spirit of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Lectio Divina in the tradition of St. Benedict, monastic chanting and readings of psalms, the meditative singing of Taize hymns, and other spiritual practices that culminate with the celebration of the Eucharist. A Monastic Mass provides an opportunity to take what we encounter publicly and privately every day and to further our experiences of integration collectively with others.
Monastic mass liturgies have focused on various Christian spiritual traditions of ancient and contemporary spiritual leaders such as St. John of the Cross or Teresa of Avila and have also focused on Saturday evening vigils for various Christian Sunday liturgical events such as Advent, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Past liturgies can be found here.
Commemorating an Annual Retreat and Sacred Dinner
Commemorating an annual retreat and dinner provides Urban Monks with an opportunity to share a spiritual practice(s) that they developed and nurtured throughout the year and that has helped them live out their lives of integration. They are encouraged (not required) to provide a written copy of their spiritual practice to give to others as an additional treasure of spiritual wisdom and practice. In addition, a sacred dinner is shared that incorporates the food and drinks into symbolic gestures of spiritual growth.