New Clairvaux’s Brother Simon Professes First Vows

The monks of New Clairvaux Abbey, Vina, CA, are pleased to announce that on Sunday, November 23, our Brother Simon Voung professed his first vows before the monastic community gathered in the Chapter Room. Abbot Paul Mark Schwan presided at the ceremony. Brother Simon vowed to observe stability, obedience, and conversion via the monastic way of life according to the Rule of St. Benedict. He was then clothed in the black scapular and leather belt of a professed monk.

FATHER PAUL-MARK’S PROFESSION TALK

Profession of First Vows of Brother Simon-Peter Vuong
Nov 24, 2024
Brother Simon, there are a number of prescribed prostrations found in our Rule. Some of these make satisfaction for a monk’s conduct when it is contrary to monastic life. Other prostrations are prescribed to calm the anger of a brother and bring about reconciliation. Still other prostrations are expressions of submission and honor to God, e.g. at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, at the death of Jesus at the solemn proclamation of the Passion, or in reverence for the Trinity at the Gloria. Another prostration occurs at the time of solemn profession when the monk falls at the feet of each senior to beg his prayers and his mercy.
Today you have also prostrated before this community to beg for God’s mercy through these brothers! This is a great act of faith on your part that God’s mercy should be so revealed and received through these your brothers. It is also a great risk on the part of God that his mercy can manifest itself through these your brothers. This prostration, as do all our prostrations, symbolizes the essential need for you, Brother Simon, to practice humility, because God has first practiced great humility on taking on the human condition with all its brokenness, its sin. A full-length prostration places your entire body on the ground, reminding you that you, in your earthly elements are indeed part of the earth, the soil, upon which you stand. And it is in mercy, an aspect of God’s love, that God lifts you up and fills you with his own divinity, again through these brothers of yours, and in this way you become a new creation, called, chosen, and named by the Incarnate Word of God to be with him, as the theme of our retreat reminded us.
Today then, as you make your first vows, you are being welcomed into this community. From this day forward you are no longer a foreigner, a stranger, for you belong to God’s people as found in this community, with us, your brothers. This makes you a member of the household of God, here at Vina, with us, your brothers with all the privileges and rights, that belong to a member of this community, of this Order, of this Church. And if you have rights, you also have obligations to witness to the gospel with all your heart through the common will as our community expresses it.
And so, I ask you Brother Simon, do you freely seek Christ by committing yourself to him in a life according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, vowing Obedience, Stability in the community and Fidelity to Monastic Life?
May the Lord bring to perfection in you the work He has begun. I invite you now to pronounce your vows and I will receive you as a professed monk of our Order.

Please pray for Brother Simon and all those responding to God’s call.

For those interested in exploring joining our way of life, we invite you to visit our page Becoming a Trappist