The Resources section of the Lay Cistercian Review is under development.
Final versions will offers carefully selected materials for those seeking a deeper understanding of the Cistercian tradition, Lay Cistercian life, and the contemplative vocation in the world. These resources support formation, study, and spiritual orientation through foundational texts, scholarly work, Church documents, and global Lay Cistercian communities, providing a grounded guide for prayerful engagement with Cistercian spirituality.
Foundational Cistercian Texts
The Cistercian way of life is rooted in Scripture, the Rule of Saint Benedict, and the writings of the early Cistercian fathers. Foundational texts form the spiritual and theological grammar of the tradition and remain central to both monastic and lay expressions of Cistercian life.
Commentary on Psalm 4, Latin Vulgate Bible (Cistercian), 1424. Rare Book Collection, San Francisco Public Library , San Francisco, CA.
- Foundational Texts (OCSO) — A curated collection of essential Cistercian documents maintained by the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Scroll down to the section titled “Foundational Texts.”
Monastic and Cistercian Readings
Serious engagement with the Cistercian tradition has long been supported by rigorous historical and theological knowledge.
- Cistercian Studies Quarterly
- Bernard of Clairvaux, The Book on Loving God
- Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain
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Michael Casey,
Fully Human, Fully Divine: An Interactive Christology
Limited PDF – Full access with free account -
A Monastic Vision for the Twenty-First Century:
Where
Cistercian Orders and Official Bodies
Lay Cistercian life exists in living relationship with the monastic Orders from which it draws its charism and spiritual inheritance.
Lay Cistercian Communities
Across the world, lay men and women live the Cistercian charism within the ordinary circumstances of family, work, and community.
Lay Cistercian Spiritual Journey and Formation Documents
Structures, formation practices, and expressions of lay Cistercian life vary by region and monastery, reflecting local contexts while remaining rooted in a shared tradition.
The Church’s Documents on the Lay Vocation
The renewal of lay contemplative life is grounded in the Church’s teaching on the universal call to holiness.
- Lumen Gentium (1964) Vatican II’s foundational constitution on the Church, articulating the universal call to holiness and the vocation of the laity.
- Christifideles Laici (1988) The Church’s direct magisterial teaching on the identity, formation, and mission of lay Christians.
- Verbum Domini (2010) On the Word of God in the life of the Church, especially relevant for lectio divina and contemplative reading of Scripture.
- For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission (2024) The Final Document of the Synod on Synodality, presenting a contemporary vision of the Church as a listening, discerning, and participatory communion.
The Lay Cistercian Review offers these resources as points of reference for prayerful study and discernment, in fidelity to the Cistercian tradition and the life of the Church