We live in a world that is so focused on output and production to determine value. Contemplative religious help us to remember that life is not only about production. Being comes before action. Their being in the presence of God comes before any particular actions that they may need to perform to preserve their monastery’s way of life. They take as their model the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the fruit of the Immaculate Conception, as we remember from the apparition at Lourdes. She had an absolute purity. Contemplative religious reflect this through their dedicated service in the shadows of the world. They are not famous. They do not appear on the cover of Vogue magazine. And yet, they are the women who have the deepest impact in the world. Their time of solitude and seclusion is the very definition of leisure. They have time to dedicate to the noblest of pursuits – the contemplation of God and his good works.
