We are a monastery entirely ordered to contemplation. We dedicate ourselves to the worship of God in a cloistered life within the monastery under the Rule of St. Benedict. We lead a monastic way of life in solitude and silence, in diligent prayer, Scripture study, Lectio Divina, spiritual reading, manual labor, and joyous penitence, thus dedicating to the all-loving God, a life that is at once humble and proud.
We seek God and follow Jesus, striving to be of one heart and mind, having everything in common, owning nothing personally. By striving to bear one another's burdens and encourage one another, we try to fulfill Jesus' law, participating in his sufferings in the hope of entering the kingdom of heaven. Through God's Word we are trained in a discipline of heart and action to be responsive to the Holy Spirit and so attain continual mindfulness of and presence to God's presence.
Living in solitude and silence, we aspire to the interior quiet in which the whisperings of Wisdom can be heard and nurtured. We practice self-denial in order to follow Jesus. Through humility and obedience we struggle against pride and the rebellion of sin. In simplicity and labor we seek the blessedness promised to the poor.
The monastery is an expression of the mystery of the Church, where nothing is preferred to the praise of the Father's glory. We try to live the Gospel, sharing our active desire for the unity of all of God's children and the responsibility of compassionate stewardship of all of God's creatures. By fidelity to our monastic way of life, which has its own non-visible mode of apostolic fruitfulness, we perform a service for God's whole human family.
The monastery and each of the nuns are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and symbol of the Church in the order of faith, hope, love, and perfect union with Jesus. The monastery and nuns are likewise dedicated through the intercession of the loving motherhood of Mary, to helping victims of church abuse and cover-up.
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Our Cistercian Diocesan Monastery has its origin in the monastic tradition of evangelical life expressed in the Rule for Monasteries of Saint Benedict of Nursia. Saints Robert, Alberic, and Stephen, in founding the Monastery Of Our Lady of Citeaux in 1098, gave this tradition a particular form and attitude of simplicity, on which we based the founding of Our Lady of Little Citeaux.