"Routine is very important in developing good habits, but it should never lead to a diminishment of alertness. In fact, as the years progress and good habits are established, a monk normally becomes ever more sharply aware of the potential for doing good in the ordinary events of everyday life. His level of awareness increases. He becomes more conscious and so more conscientious. It is true to say that the whole purpose of monastic discipline is to sharpen conscience — what the French term conscientisation. The scope of conscience is increased as is the intensity of its voice. Conscience supplements the dictates of the Rule by its own authority and reveals new areas in which good may be accomplished.
"Monastic life is a school in which conscience is formed and invigorated. This occurs not only through solitary prayer and lectio divina but also through immersion in the communal way of life. A person who consents to participate fully in monastic activities, who is inspired by the good example of those more advanced in the way of virtue, whose attitudes are shaped by immersion in the liturgy, inevitably becomes more sensitive to the promptings of conscience and through conscience of the Holy Spirit.
"Routine goodness can easily lead to complacency and judgmental attitudes; a well-formed conscience, on the other hand, is always indicating new paths of progress. Those who have thus committed their lives to this high obedience have a continual sense of being beginners — far from being pleased with the distance already traversed, they are conscious only of how far they have to travel to attain full openness to the grace of God and a continuous sense of God's proximity. More and more they recognize their reliance on God's mercy; their own history of virtue seems unremarkable. Indeed, as Saint Benedict indicates at the end of his chapter on humility, the higher the monk climbs on the ladder, the more aware he becomes of his own sinful state and of his need for the merciful intervention of God. Meanwhile, far from resting on his laurels, he is content to keep on running so that, by good deeds, he may be found worthy to enter God's kingdom and dwell in his tent."
