The ascetical dimension of the cloister

5. As an ascetical means of immense value, (²³) the cloister is especially well suited to life wholly directed to contemplation. Its totality signals absolute dedication to God, and it therefore becomes a sign of God's holy watchfulness over his creatures and a unique mode of belonging to him alone. It is an archetypal and effective way of living the nuptial relationship with God in the exclusiveness of love and without undue interference from persons or material things, so that the creature, intent on God and absorbed by him, may live solely for the praise of his glory (cf. Eph 1:6, 10-12, 14).

The contemplative nun fulfils to the highest degree the First Commandment of the Lord: “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind” (Lk 10:27), making it the full meaning of her life and loving in God all the brothers and sisters. She moves towards the perfection of charity, choosing God as “the one thing necessary” (cf. Lk 10:42), loving him exclusively as All in all. Through her unconditional love of him and in the spirit of renunciation proposed by the Gospel (cf. Mt 13:45; Lk 9:23), (²⁴) she accomplishes the sacrifice of all good things,“consecrating” every good thing to God alone. (²⁵) This is so that he alone may dwell in the utter silence of the cloister, filling it with his word and presence, and the Bride may truly dedicate herself to the Only One, “in constant prayer and ardent penance” (²⁶) in the mystery of a total and exclusive love.

This is the reason why the earliest spiritual tradition spontaneously associated complete withdrawal from the world (²⁷) and all works of the apostolate with this kind of life, which thus becomes a silent emanation of love and superabundant grace in the pulsing heart of the Church as Bride. Whether in a place apart or in the heart of the city, the monastery, with its distinctive architectural form, is intended to create a space of separation, solitude and silence, where God can be sought more freely in a life not only for him and with him but also in him alone.

Therefore it is necessary that the person, free from all attachment, disquiet or distraction, interior and exterior, may gather her faculties and turn to God to welcome his presence in the joy of adoration and praise.

Contemplation becomes the blessedness of the pure in heart (Mt 5:8). A pure heart is a clear mirror of what lies within the person, purified and unified in love, in whom God is reflected and abides; (²⁸) it is like a polished crystal infused with God's light, giving forth the splendour it has received. (²⁹)

In the light of contemplation, as loving communion with God, purity of heart finds its highest expression in virginity of spirit, because it requires the integrity of a heart not only purified from sin but unified in the movement towards God and which therefore loves completely and undividedly, reflecting the purest love of the Blessed Trinity, called by the Fathers “the first Virgin”. (³⁰)

The cloistered desert helps greatly in the pursuit of purity of heart understood in this way, because it reduces to the bare minimum the opportunities for contact with the outside world, lest it disrupt the monastery in different ways, disturbing its atmosphere of peace and holy union with the one Lord and with the Sisters. In this way the cloister eliminates in large part the dispersion which comes from many unnecessary contacts, from the accumulation of images, which are often a source of worldly thoughts and vain desires, of news and emotions which distract from the one thing necessary and dissipate interior harmony. “In the monastery everything is directed to the search for the face of God, everything is reduced to the essential, because the only thing that matters is what leads to him. Monastic recollection is attention to the presence of God: if it is dissipated by many things, the journey slows down and the final destination disappears from view”. (³¹)

Withdrawn from things external in the intimacy of her being, purifying her heart and mind by an ardent journey of prayer, of renunciation, of fraternal life, of listening to the word of God, and exercise of the theological virtues, the nun is called to converse with the divine Bridegroom, meditating upon his law day and night so as to receive as gift the Wisdom of the Word and to become one with him, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit. (³²)

This yearning for fulfilment in God, in an uninterrupted nostalgia of the heart which with unceasing desire turns to the contemplation of the Bridegroom, feeds the ascetical commitment of the cloistered nun. Wholly absorbed by his beauty, she finds in the cloister her dwelling-place of grace and an anticipation of the blessedness of the vision of the Lord. Refined by the purifying flame of the divine Presence, she readies herself for the fullness of beatitude, intoning in her heart the new song of the redeemed, on the Mountain of sacrifice and oblation, of the temple and of contemplation of God.

In consequence, the regulation of the cloister, in its practical aspects, must be such that it allows the realization of this sublime contemplative ideal, which implies total dedication, undivided attention, emotional wholeness and consistency of life.