Our Mission and Vision
The Companions of St. Luke (CSL) was formed to exemplify Benedictine spirituality and practices under the Rule of St. Benedict in a manner consistent with the times in which we live. We are committed to the rule’s core tenet of preferring nothing whatever to Christ.
CSL’s charism, our mission and vision empowered by the Holy Spirit, continues to be a life devoted to Christ in constant prayer, in sacred reading, and in service.
Benedictine Spirituality
As Benedictines, we promise to fulfill our threefold vows of fidelity to monastic life, stability, and obedience. These vows have been defined by many monastics over the ages and reflect the spiritual journeys of those individuals and communities who have gone before us.
We are called to embrace the vows as our own as we listen to God and one another with open hearts and minds and pursue a life often viewed as countercultural.
Our Community
Founded in 1992, The CSL is a dynamic and dispersed Christian Community established under the canons of The Episcopal Church of the United States and is a society in communion with the See of Canterbury. The CSL is independent of any other religious order or community and is identified as a non-profit entity.
The CSL is guided by the principles of simplicity and hospitality and of balance and moderation expressed in the Rule of St. Benedict. Although we do not own a monastery, through a vigorous formation program each member has learned to live into a “monastery of the heart,” where each of us practices the discipline of prayer, study, and work in our own homes, churches, and at our jobs.
Monastic Life & Fellowship
The CSL community, as an expression of new monasticism, serves as a witness to the wider church and world while helping members on their individual spiritual journeys. Members gather together for worship, prayer, study, and fellowship both in person twice a year as guests at a monastery or by video conferencing and related technology-based options between the semi-annual gatherings.
Gatherings center around praying the Divine Office (four daily services in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer), sharing of the Eucharist, celebrating special church calendar days and member spiritual-growth milestones, and enjoying fellowship at mealtimes and otherwise when meeting in person.
Our Members and Leadership
CSL includes about fifty members: 70% professed members who are Episcopalians; and 30% oblates who may be from other denominations. Some of us are married, some partnered, some single; some are young, some older. Each brings with us the wisdom we have acquired from our varied life experiences, our relationships with families and friends, worshipping in our home churches, working at our jobs, and enjoying our special interests and hobbies. As a dispersed community, Companions may be found from coast to coast and from North to South America.
Guidance and leadership of CSL is provided by our community’s superior (who provides administrative and spiritual leadership), together with appointed and elected members (The CSL Council), and our core documents that include the Rule of Benedict and CSL’s Constitution and Customary (nature of community and expected practices). In addition, as a Christian community authorized by The Episcopal Church, CSL has a bishop visitor who serves as a key bridge between CSL and the greater church.
Resources and Service
Our commitment to the contemplative form of religious life is complemented by our individual forms of service that help to heal a wounded world, while respecting the dignity and rights of all, meeting distance-learning formation expectations, and honoring our threefold monastic vows.
CSL is dependent on the initiative of all members to contribute to development of a nurturing community and to achieve shared interests. It is a goal that all CSL members will support, and be supported by, the community’s efforts to manifest Benedictine principles and spirituality through their prayers, talents, and financial resources in a manner that balances their individual financial obligations and personal growth needs with the needs of the community and care for God’s creation.
Annual member pledges are not considered as membership dues but as thankofferings for God’s generosity in bringing us together to love and serve Christ in all.