Contemplation in Monastic Life     

        For 1700 years, monastic life has preserved the Christian contemplative heritage when social, political and religious conflicts weakened its practice in ordinary life.  Monasteries are a visible witness to the deeper inner life of prayer.  Through their prayer, contemplative monks and nuns offer to the world the life of Christ, the experience that Jesus spoke of as the prayer in secret (Mt 6: 6).

        Christian monastic life grew out of the inspiration, lives and teachings of the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers.  These early contemplatives went into the deserts of what is now Egypt and Syria during the third and fourth centuries and --  over a few generations -- developed teachings, practices, small communities and a living tradition of Christian contemplation.  Generations later, institutionalized monastic life in Europe grew from the seeds of their prayer.

Contemplation in Ordinary Life

        Yet, contemplative movements that were not tied to permanent life in the monastery have also always existed in Christianity.  To mention just a few: the Beguine’s spirituality was both feminine and profoundly contemplative; the Franciscans and Dominicans blend contemplation and action; the Quakers root themselves in silence in the world.

        Jesus himself was not a monk, spending all his time in a monastery.  Rather, he was immersed in the human world. He spent time in the desert, preparing himself for his service and often went apart to pray.  In the mystery of the Incarnation he was both divine and human.

      The gift of his life opened for his followers the possibility of finding the divine life in the human world.  Of course, skillful interior practice and the right kind of exterior support are necessary in order to live this life seriously without the external practices and supports of monasticism.

Incarnational Contemplation

        While retreats are helpful as an intensive form of spiritual practice, the orientation of Incarnational contemplation is towards practicing and living the contemplative life in our ordinary worlds.  Just as everything in our inner world is all in God, so too is everything in our outer world: the activities, joys, passions and challenges of existence. 

         Skillful interior contemplative practice and -- at the right times -- intensive retreat training help make this realization possible.  Intensive training in contemplative practice is so necessary that one might need to live like a monk for a period of time in order to solidify the inner practice necessary for expressing the contemplative life in the world.

       But for Incarnational contemplation the divine is found and -- more and more -- expressed in human life.   Searching for a job;  birthing a child; washing the dishes; helping others; confronting injustice...with these activities there is no romantic soundtrack, no self-reflective commentary as accompaniment, no added color that makes them appear overtly divine.  In a radical yet simple way they are in God when there is no search for meaning, perfection or God beyond them. 

“The kingdom of heaven is among you” (Lk 17: 21).