The monks of Our Lady of New Clairvaux Abbey are pleased to announce that on Sunday, February 8, postulant Nhat Nguyen was clothed in the Novice habit and entered religious life at the Abbey of New Clairvaux, taking the name Br. Phero, which means “Peter” in Vietnamese. We ask your prayers for God’s abundant blessing on Br. Phero as his monastic training intensifies in the days ahead.

Below is the text of abbot Fr. Paul-Mark’s Schwan’s exhortation on the occasion.

Blessings,
Your brothers of New Clairvaux

Please pray for Brother Phero 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

RECEPTION INTO THE NOVITIATE OF BROTHER NHAT NGUYEN by Dom Paul-Mark Schwan, abbot of New Clairvaux Abbey
Feb 8, 2026

I find it interesting Nhat that on the threshold of Lent you chose a resurrection text for your reception into the novitiate. I cannot know the reason underlying your choice but for me this text immediately evokes two chapters of the Rule, 15, Times for Saying Alleluia, and 49, The Observance of Lent.
Alleluia is the song of Paschaltide, “From the holy feast of Easter until Pentecost, ‘alleluia’ is always said with both the psalms and the responsories.” RB 15:1
“The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent,” we are told in RB 49:1, so that the monk “looks forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.” RB 49:7
It is this spiritual longing, an anticipation of joy that this gospel text from John brings into sharp relief. For the disciples, though fearful and doubting, sought to know the risen Christ, and Thomas, though singled out, was there in that locked room the second time for the same reason the others were, for even in his unbelief, he believed and sought the Lord he loved, in an inexplicable joy and spiritual longing, and was rewarded with the words, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Jn 20:29
In selecting this text on this day of further incorporation into the monastic community of Vina, you, Nhat, have touched upon the essence of what has brought all of us here to the monastery, the paschal mystery in all its dimensions, passion, death, and resurrection.
This is a gift of faith, a gift of belief, Nhat, that calls for nurturance, for it can too readily be lost, if not cultivated or neglected. A monk cannot take his faith too seriously, cannot take it for granted. For Saint Benedict reminds us that the monk is called daily to translate into action the Lord’s holy teachings (Prol 35).
There will be times Nhat you will find yourself locked in the room out of fear, your faith tempted by unbelief. In these moments of fear and unbelief, what might be termed a inaction on your part of the Lord’s holy teachings, the risen Lord comes and stands before you as he did to the disciples and to Thomas and breathes upon you with his message, “Peace be with you Nhat, blessed will you be for having believed.”