Current Courses

Each of us, to a greater or lesser extent, has a monastic personality. It is a universal quality of the deep self and a desire of the heart to seek silence and solitude. In this lecture, Dr. Lanzetta discusses how people often live for many years unaware of their contemplative natures. Found along every spectrum of the personality map—extroverted, introverted, intuitive and so forth—the contemplative soul has an intrinsic need for silence and solitude. Among the other attributes of this type of person is great sensitivity, search for truth, a permeable consciousness, and an intense need for freedom of expression.

This course is comprised of eight sessions (approximately 10-13 minutes of audio each).

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have already registered for The Monk Within Self-Study Program, there is no need to register again. Simply access the course via the course library using the password you have already been provided.

This course is based on a lecture of the same name, delivered to the community of monks and friends at St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota in 2013, in which Dr. Lanzetta shares her insight into the timeless spiritual classic The Cloud of Unknowing. Written by an unknown monk in the 14th century, it remains accessible and relevant today to those who yearn to follow a path toward God.

This course is comprised of eight sessions (approximately 10-12 minutes each of audio).

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

In the Beginning is based on a lecture originally delivered in August of 2006. Deeply contemplative in tone and delivery, it extends an invitation to reverse the stories that dwell in us and in which we have been embedded, drawing us into the monastic heart, a place of renewal, to the quickening moment before the beginning.

This course is comprised of five sessions (approximately 6-8 minutes each of audio).

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

Christian-Sannyasa: A Path of Mystical Union in Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda, based on a lecture that Dr. Lanzetta gave at Marywood University in September 2015, explores a religious experiment that was taking place in a remote ashram in India in the middle decades of the twentieth century, which led to the development of a unique dual Christian-Hindu monastic ideal. The experiences of Bede Griffiths and Abhishiktananda, as pilgrims of a new path of interfaith monasticism, invite us into the dialogue of religious experience that lies at the depths of contemplation, where the divisions among peoples and religions are healed.

This course is comprised of 6 sessions.

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have already registered for any e-Course in The Monk Within Self-Study Program, there is no need to register again. Simply access the course via the course library using the password you have already been provided.

The Monastic Ideal is based on a lecture of the same name presented during a retreat in January 2015. In it, Dr. Lanzetta describes the conversion to the spiritual life. She explores what it means to be empty, receptive, surrendered, and vulnerable before the Divine, as we strive towards liberation of self.

This course is comprised of 8 sessions.

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

In this final e-Course of 2020, Dr. Lanzetta shares from her new book, A New Silence: Spiritual Practices and Formation for the Monk Within, a prayer and practice schedule to sanctify each day. The course is adapted from the book and includes two weeks of a universal liturgy of hours which could be followed for just two weeks, repeated in order to have a holy month, or used as a template and/or jumping off point for making daily spiritual commitments.

Once you've registered, you can access the course with the link provided in the registration confirmation email, or here, using the password provided.

Register

Registration will give you access to all currently available courses as well as upcoming courses as they are added.

Once registered, you can access the Course Library via the link provided in the registration confirmation email or by clicking here.

Most courses are divided into eight sessions, and are designed for you to move through at your own pace, allowing plenty of time for silence, prayer, and reflection between sessions. We recommend doing no more than two session per week, so that a course comprised of eight sessions would take a minimum of a month to complete.

Upon registration, you will receive a welcome email with instructions for how to access the courses via a password-protected web page, which will contain the entire course library. Courses will be added to the library as they become available.

On each individual course page you will find a description of the course, a short introduction for each session, links to access the audio clips, and a PDF to download with the text, reflections, practices, and prayers for each session. Each course also includes a virtual library to enhance the course content.

Access to email and an internet-connected device, as well as Adobe Reader are required.

You are encouraged to move through the material at your own pace and with the following recommendations:

First, listen to the audio for each session. Oral transmission is a standard practice of monastic life, with communities of monks gathering for dharma talks or commentaries on scripture reading. Listening to a spiritual teaching, preferably quietly and without distraction, is one of the most effective ways of absorbing a teaching.

Next, reflect. Allow time for the audio lecture to ruminate and reflect during the next minutes, hours or days.

Then, read the text. Consider approaching the text in a contemplative manner, allowing words or phrases to draw you into reflection, prayer, etc. Christians call this type of engagement with a text, lectio divina—sacred reading.

After, write in a journal. Respond to the Reflections, Practices, and Prayers.

Explore the virtual library provided for each course. Remember to also take advantage of the resources here on this site, where you will find study guides to Beverly's books, answers to frequently asked questions, and audio of interviews and prayers.

Connect. As with any spiritual undertaking, guidance and companionship are essential. If you do not already have a spiritual director, you may consider finding one. Participants are also encouraged to consider participating in the self-study courses with a friend. Moving through the process as spiritual companions will enrich the experience and provide a grounding for future support and connection.

These courses are being offered at no cost, but if you’d like to contribute to support this work, we would be grateful, and you can do so by clicking the button below.

PLEASE NOTE: Your participation in these courses entitles you to access, but not to forward, duplicate, or share any course content. If you know someone who might benefit from these courses, please invite them to register for them directly.

By participating in any of The Monk Within Self-Study Program e-Courses, you are stating that you recognize, understand, agree and affirm that Beverly Lanzetta’s e-courses, as well as the design, format, content of the course modules (Reflections, Practices, Prayers, Virtual Library), electronic data, audio, digital, and visual recordings, written lectures, and transcriptions and edited transcriptions including but not limited to the above mentioned categories that refer or relate to the work of Beverly Lanzetta are Beverly Lanzetta’s sole property, protected under U.S. copyright law. The above specified categories of materials and information contained therein may not be forwarded, copied, disseminated, sold, transcribed, or transmitted without Beverly Lanzetta’s prior express written consent or that of her heirs.