Go Out to All Nations - But Stay in Your Cloister?
Your spiritual reading for the day - a reflection from one of our Sisters on the contemplative vocation and the call to mission. Enjoy!
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations …” (Matthew 28:19)
How can I fulfill these last words of our Lord if I live cloistered in a monastery? I think all men and women called to contemplative life have to wrestle with the question - I know I did. I had spent several years in various ministry positions focusing on the evangelization of young people, and was really starting to come into my own when the Lord called me to give it up and join the Passionist Nuns. How did I come to terms with this seeming contradiction? Here are a few thoughts.
1. “The heart of the Church” - Gospel of preaching
St. Therese of Lisieux, a young contemplative nun who is now the patron saint of missions, pointed out that in the heart of the Church she would “be love.” If we recall St. Paul’s analogy ofthe Church as the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27), Jesus is the Head and we are the members of His Body. The question could then be asked: among these members, who is the heart? Through the centuries the cloisters of the world have been seen as the heart of the Church, pumping the lifeblood of prayer and sacrifice to the rest of the body, to those on active mission. The Church has affirmed this in countless way in her teachings. For instance, Pope St. John Paul II says it well, “The Church is deeply aware, and without hesitation she forcefully proclaims, that there is an intimate connection between prayer and the spreading of the kingdom of God, between prayer and the conversion of hearts, between prayer and the fruitful reception of the saving and uplifting Gospel message. This alone is enough to assure you and all contemplative religious throughout the world just how necessary your role in the Church is, just how important your service is to your people.” (Address to Carmelite Nuns in Nairobi, May 1980)
Towards the end of her life, as she was dying from tuberculosis, St. Therese walked around the cloister garden with great difficulty. When asked why, she declared that every step was to support a step of a missionary. This answer only begins to satisfy if we believe that all the baptized are spiritually connected to one another and what one person does, for good of for ill, affects the rest of the Body.
2. “Life hidden with Christ” - Gospel of compassion
St. Paul’s words in the letter to the Colossians (quoted just above) are incredibly applicable to cloistered religious, for we are quite literally hidden with God. But just because we aren’t out in the world does not mean we are aloof or far from its troubles. As contemplatives we often experience the pains and the tragedies of the world in a deep way. In a way we feel closer to the world than ever. I must admit the first time I heard a nun say this I thought, “Yeah sure. So you think, Sister.” Then I became a nun myself and found that the closer I get to Christ, the more my heart breaks for what breaks His Heart. We live for the Church. Our Constitutions (the rule of life by which we live) particularly call us to a special bond with those who suffer, those who experience the cross of Christ in their life, those who have enclosure forced upon them (think here of the imprisoned or the homebound) and the poor. We hold these and all the members of the Church close to our heart. So while we are not physically present to those who suffer in these and other ways, we are intimately present to them in our heart through our prayers and sacrifices.
3. “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you” - Gospel of Witness
What a joy it is to wear the habit, when I do occasionally go out of the enclosure for doctor visits, shoe shopping, voting, etc. I get all kinds of reactions just by walking into a room, for that is all it takes. My way of dress speaks for me. When I walk into a room everyone in there knows for what - and for Whom - I stand. It is, in a way, preaching the Gospel just by our witness. Just by our existence we say to the world “there is more than just this life to live for!”
4. “To live a life of love with you, my Sisters” - Gospel in community
Last but certainly not least, contemplatives proclaim the Gospel to each other. Each sister has a unique and unrepeatable relationship with our Lord. He shows his love and mercy to each of us differently and we get glimpses into this from time to time in community life. Those glimpses preach the Gospel - the good news of Christ’s love. As a community we also care for one another. We visit our sick Sisters and take care of them; the kitchen sister feeds us; the cloth room sister gives us clothes to wear, those in positions of formation and authority teach and admonish us; when a sister dies we bury her and then continue to pray for her and all of our deceased loved ones regularly. These actions may sound familiar - they are some of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. One doesn’t have to go far to show mercy or to preach the Gospel! We can and should preach the Gospel to those who the Lord places in our lives.
So in a special way, I believe we do preach the Gospel even to all nations, right from our cloister!