St. Benedict notes in chapter 1 of his Rule that: It is well known that there are four kinds of monks. The first kind is that of Cenobites, that is, the monastic, who live under a Rule and an Abbot.  A monastic professes the vows of stability, conversion of life, and obedience as a special and particular way to live out the Gospel fully in response to God's call.

In accepting to live according to, as well as under, the Rule and the abbot – and this can only be done with humility and obedience – what is it, exactly, that the monk accepts? It is the search for God and the fellowship of the community. Humility, obedience, silence, are tools to be lived and developed by the Benedictine monk in company with his brothers and within the framework of his community. The loving fear that a monk has - fear that he does not love God enough - will be made concrete in his fraternal relations. Fraternal love, expressed in mutual service and obedience, is the Benedictine monk’s way of expressing his love and his search for God. When Saint Benedict asks the monk to do everything and to live in community for that love of God, he is doing no more than asking him to observe the commandment which summarizes the whole Law: "to love God with all your heart, all your strength, all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself".

Every day, the monks of Saint Andrew Abbey go about the ordinary tasks of teaching, cleaning, caring for our sick, welcoming guests, and assisting at parishes in the diocese. This balance of prayer and work - Ora et Labora - is reflected in how we spend our days.  

Monks today strive to live a life that balances the contemplative and active life through the vows of stability, obedience, and conversion of life.  Through the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the center of the communal prayer life, the monks also celebrate the Mass and Lectio Divina (meditation) striving to reach the Kingdom of God, all the while learning in the school of the Lord's service. While living in this world the monk seeks to cut off the desires of the flesh through the spiritual life so as to do that which will profit us forever and be found worthy to enter the heavenly kingdom.