Laboure Society
“God is calling me to go with Him, to learn what it is to be a monk for Christ, to pray for others.”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Steven Webster. I am called with an overflowing heart to the joyful life of prayer and work as a monk with the Trappists of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery. This is my story.
I grew up in a devout Catholic home. At age five, I experienced the awe and wonder of the faith when my mother took me to Adoration and said, “That’s Jesus up there.” I was fascinated by the richness of the Church and her tradition, and became involved in catechism, youth group, and retreats. I was also a budding visual artist, interested in drawing, collage, and sculpture. At university, I studied studio art and graphic design.
After graduation, I worked as an art therapist in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. I began to grow more interested in the “why’s” of my faith, reading numerous books, going to daily Mass and reciting the Liturgy of the Hours. Looking back, I can see that God was preparing me.
I was on a retreat when someone said I’d make a good religious. This was my ‘still, small voice’ moment. I met the vocation director of Holy Spirit Monastery, and I remember being taken by the joy he and his brothers exuded. They were very intelligent, but did not make a person feel small because of it. I was further inspired by the writings of the famous Trappist monk Thomas Merton, which had a profound impact on me. I entered the monastery and became a Trappist postulant in 2022.
Trappists lead a very cloistered life, combining physical work (baking biscotti and fudge, which we sell) with seven periods of group prayer throughout the day, as well as constant internal prayer. Our group prayer takes us through all 150 Psalms every two weeks. We pray the Psalms as a means to both stay connected to, and to pray for, the world. Our manual labor has the same effect. Work is efficacious for the soul of us and for the world.
The structure of this life is very appealing to me. The monastic life is a sign and symbol to the Church, and to the world, that prayer is important, that it truly matters, and that it can change the world. We dedicate our lives to this. Yet, while we are cloistered, we have not left the world. We are still very much a part of it. People come from all over to retreats at Trappist monasteries, drawn to the charism of prayer and work there. We give spiritual direction to all who come to us seeking God.
As an artist, I’ve learned not to go against the grain. To make something beautiful, you must go with the grain. God is calling me to go with Him, to learn what it is to be a monk for Christ, to pray for others. My greatest joy and desire is that His will be done in my life. Jesus, I trust in you!
Please pray for me and for my fellow Labouré classmates on our vocation journeys. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have at: StevenWebster@rescuevocations.org.
Download a PDF of my story
Your gift gets our aspirants one step closer to their ordination or profession of vows.