In any discussion about a Catholic religious congregation sooner or later the word “charism” will be mentioned. We speak of “the Benedictine charism,” “the Dominican chrism,” the charism of the Little Sisters of the Poor.” What do we mean by “charism”?

            The word “charism” comes from the Greek charis meaning gift or grace and refers to a gift given by God to someone for the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world.” (CCC #799)

            In religious life, the word “charism” refers to a grace that enables the one who receives it to live according to a certain way of imitating Jesus. All Christians are called to imitate Christ. More than that, all Christians are called to be other Christs, Christianus alter Christus, according to St. Cyprian. But the Holy Spirit gives the grace  to some to be imitators of Jesus in specific ways:: to imitate Him in His role of teaching, in His actions of caring for the sick, to imitate Him in his times of prayer. These graces of witnessing to the life of Jesus are very frequently given to man or woman, who then attract followers to whom the same grace is given. They in their turn reproduce the life of Jesus in their own life. In this way, a religious charism becomes a “family“ grace, a grace passed down by the Holy Spirit to spiritual descendants of the original founder or foundress.

            Because the life of the God-Man is infinitely rich, His actions and life can be imitated in innumerable ways. So there are many religious congregations that imitate Him in teaching, yet each one with a different emphasis. The many religious institutes that care for the sick and needy each do so with a distinct style. The various orders of contemplative nuns each focus on a different aspect of His prayer.

            A man or woman who is called by God to a religious institute is given the special graces to live the Christ life specific to that institute. It is not too much to say that he or she experiences an annunciation similar to Mary’s when Gabriel said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will overshadow you”. Those who receive the grace of a religious vocation are called to make visible the life of God again on this earth that all may see Him in them.

            The phrase “contemplatives in action” has become well known in recent years thanks to the work of St. Teresa of Kolkata and her Missionaries of Charity. It is not that difficult to understand the idea of prayerful people living out their relationship with God in service to their neighbor. But the idea of being contemplative without the action can be puzzling. When we speak of “contemplative nuns”, who are still often called “cloistered nuns”, there is something mysterious about the term, something that can be alluring and at the same time rather daunting.

            The correct term is “nuns wholly devoted to contemplation” and the official definition is women religious who have no outside apostolate, such as teaching or caring for the sick. This is helpful but a fuller explanation is still needed.

            It is possible to present the vocation to the wholly contemplative life in several ways, but I think that the simplest is to say that contemplative nuns are the praying hands of the Church. All people are called to pray, and contemplative nuns remind us that the Church itself is called to pray. The hands of the Church have many tasks to do. The Church must be busy with all the corporal and spiritual works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, instructing the ignorant, counseling the discouraged. Yet in the midst of all this activity, contemplative nuns remind the world that our relationship with God comes first. We are loved into existence. We are the focus of God’s love, and that focused gaze of love must be returned by us to Him. This is not only just and right; this is what we are called to do when this life of time is over: to return love for love for all eternity. Contemplative nuns are a sign, a witness, to the primacy of sharing in God’s love, now in time, and beyond time for eternity.

            Prayer takes several forms: the prayer of petition, intercessory prayer, the prayer of thanksgiving, the prayer of adoration, Some contemplative orders focus more on one form of prayer, for example, there are the various communities of perpetual adoration. But in the end, all the forms of prayer are part of the lives of contemplative nuns, either personally or communally. The prayer of the Church never ceases in the hearts of her contemplatives. Our hands and eyes and hearts are always uplifted to God for the sake of the whole world.

In her “Interior Castle”, St. Teresa of Jesus compares the soul in grace to a magnificent diamond filled with light, shining with radiance. Sin dulls the surface of the diamond, hiding its radiance, but the radiance is still there, to flash out again as soon as the sin is forgiven.

            The description applies also to the Church, dulled by the sins of it members but with its centered light undimmed in itself, needing only our repentance for it to reveal its glory. We can even develop Teresa’s image and say that each facet of the Church shines with its own color, just as each saint reveals a different facet of God’s wisdom and love. These innumerable facets blend their beauty to give the Church its inimitable wonder and loveliness, and, at the same time, each facet is itself fascinating in its own unique beauty.

            This is true of contemplative nuns also. There are many different institutes of contemplative nuns and none of them are exactly like the others. Cistercians, Benedictines, Visitandines, Adorers of the Precious Blood, Dominicans, Carmelites, Poor Clares, each has its own spirituality, and each reveals a different facet of the life wholly devoted to contemplation. Contemplative spirituality is so rich and so varied, that it can take a lifetime for those who seek to live it to even begin to fathom the depths of their own spirituality. Hopefully, in this website, we will be able to give you a glimpse of the riches held in the treasuries of the various orders.

Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.

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