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In Praise of Cloistered Religious
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before reciting the midday Angelus with the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
The day after tomorrow, November 21, on the occasion of the liturgical memorial of the Presentation of Mary Most Holy in the Temple, we celebrate “pro Orantibus” Day [pro Orantibus is Latin for "for those who pray"], dedicated to remembering cloistered religious communities. It is a particularly appropriate occasion to thank the Lord for the gift of so many persons who, in monasteries and hermitages, are totally dedicated to God in prayer, silence and hiddenness.
Some wonder about the meaning and value of their presence in our time, in which many urgent situations of poverty and need must be addressed. Why “shut oneself” forever behind the walls of a monastery and deprive others of the contribution of one’s talents and experiences? What efficacy can prayer have to resolve the numerous concrete problems that continue to afflict humanity?
In fact, also today numerous persons often surprise friends and acquaintances when they abandon professional careers, often promising careers, to embrace the austere rule of a cloistered monastery. What leads them to take such a committed step if not their having understood, as the Gospel teaches, that the Kingdom of heaven is “a treasure” for which it is worth abandoning everything (cf. Matthew 13:44)?
These brothers and sisters silently witness that in the midst of daily vicissitudes, at times extremely convulsive, God is the only support that never falters, the unbreakable rock of fidelity and love. “Todo se pasa, Dios no se muda” [Everything passes, God is unchanging], wrote the great spiritual teacher Teresa of Avila in her famous text. And, given the widespread need that many experience to leave the daily routine of the great urban agglomerations in search of appropriate spaces for silence and meditation, monasteries of contemplative life appear as “oases” in which man, a pilgrim on earth, can go to the sources of the Spirit and slake his thirst along the way.
These places, apparently useless, are, on the contrary, indispensable, like the green “lungs” of a city: They are beneficial for all, including for those who do not visit them or perhaps do not know that they exist.
Dear brothers and sisters: Let us thank the Lord, who in his providence, has willed that there be cloistered communities, masculine and feminine. May they not lack our spiritual and also material support so that they will be able to fulfill their mission of keeping alive in the Church the ardent expectation of Christ’s return. Let us invoke, for this reason, the intercession of Mary, whom, in the memorial of the Presentation in the Temple, we will contemplate as mother and model of the Church, who unites in herself both vocations: to virginity and to marriage, to the contemplative and to the active life.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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Thanks for that!
Every blessing
Maria in the UK
http://www.inhishands.co.uk
I find cloistered communities to be a great witness to us of dedicated life and prayer. They are a constant reminder of forming a deep relationship with the Lord. Is this not what life is about?
It would be nice if people listened to him…I know my parents thought I was joining some cult, when I was in the process of becoming a Benedictine oblate, and that’s not even in the same ballpark as a cloistered monastic. As much as my parents were against that, if I did have a vocation to a cloistered order, they’d be the last to know.
When I was involved in formation back in the UK in the late 80′s early 90′s one of the great graces I received was helping out as a chaplain to a community of Carmelite sisters. And here in Japan I have friends in two different Carmelite communities. One I accompanied on her journey to Baptism, so I was also privileged to attend her Final Profession. All of us who are linked with her by bonds of friendship consider her, and her vocation, a gifted and graced presence among us. The founder of the SVD, St Arnold Janssen, who is also the co-founder of the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit, and a community of contemplative sisters called the Sister Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration (Pink Sisters), seemed to know we needed the prayer and witness, active and contemplative, of both communities if we men were to survive and grow. So we give thanks daily to the Holy Spirit for inspiring the foundation of both communities.
It is my sincere belief that if it were not for the prayers of our beloved brothers and sisters living the cloistered life, the world would be much, much worse off than it is.
I am grateful for them.
Dear Sister,
I came across your blog from another site and happy I did. Religious Sisters are THE greatest gift to the Church. I was taught by the Dominican Sisters of St Mary of the Springs (Ohio) for 12 years. I received an excellent education and rich spiritual formation. I also had the privelge of working on many projects with the Sisters so I experienced the beauty of consecrated life. I remember their frequent chapel visits and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. They taught me how to love prayer by the witness of their life.
While I do not believe that “the habit makes the monk”, it seems like the essence of the vowed life appears to be lost in many places. It seems to me that some active communities are more households of social activists or a place where one lives while doing their job. I do not know of any Sisters living in apartments or “houses” that have a chapel with the reserved sacrament. There is a Sister living in my complex, for example, who does not attend daily Mass. Her wardrobe appears to be rather extensive, perhaps not “expensive”, as women’s clothes are not in my area of shopping! I talk with Sister here and there. She is a delightful and very learned woman for sure but something seems to be missing, as I see no difference from another single woman in this complex who also teaches in a college accept that she attends daily Mass! This Sisters admits that it is not a necessary thing but a choice. Enough said as you and other readers understand what I’m trying to convey.
I am trying not to be judgmental or critical but rather sharing an observation. I do have several Sister friends who wear secular dress and whom I consider to be exemplary religious women. I miss the “sign” that a simple habit witnesses and continue to believe that Sisters are THE greatest gift to the Church. As a lay Carmelite, I treasure our dear contemplative religious and understand them to be the backbone of our Order and a spiritual energy to the Church as a whole.
Thanks for reading!