Use a class period to introduce your students to the beauty of the contemplative vocation to which our Lord calls some men and women.
1. The contemplative life has origins in the life of the Blessed Mother. According to tradition, Mary was consecrated in the temple as a young girl, where she lived, studied, and prayed until her betrothal to Joseph. Just as Mary lived hidden within the temple, entirely devoted to God, so too do monastic religious live “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), separated from the world so that they can intercede and fast for the needs of the world day and night. In a uniquely beautiful way, cloistered nuns live as Christ’s Brides, providing an icon of the intimacy we are all called to enjoy with Christ in heaven.
2. To give students an introduction to cloistered life, watch these two trailers for documentaries that have been made about men’s and women’s monasteries:
- Official Into Great Silence US Trailer (youtube.com)
- Cloistered:God's Women of Steel-A Life of Adoration and Prayer (youtube.com)
3. Divide students into groups (separate guys and girls) and have them use their laptops to open cloisteredlife.com.
4. Have each group pick a different religious order to explore on the website. Boys should look at male monasteries and girls should look at female monasteries. They should be able to answer these questions:
- Which saint founded the religious order?
- What is their charism (special focus in prayer and way of life)?
- What does their habit look like? What are the closest monastery of this order to your school or diocese?
5. Regather the groups and have them share about their community with the class.
6. Discuss the following questions as a class:
Do you know anyone who has entered a monastery?
- Why did he or she enter?
- What seems beautiful and appealing about the cloister? What seems difficult and frightening?
- What are ways that we can grow in openness to our personal Vocations?
- Do we actually believe that the Lord is still calling souls to be His hidden spouses here on earth?
- How can we support those with a contemplative vocation? (Donating to monasteries, writing to loved ones in the monastery, writing to monasteries asking for them to pray for specific intentions, discussing cloistered religious life as an actual possibility for ourselves or our peers who are not yet in their permanent Vocation)
6. Conclude with praying the following prayer for the World Day of Cloistered Life from cloisteredlife.com:
Eternal Father, We praise and thank you for those sisters and brothers who have embraced the gift of the cloistered and monastic life. Their prayerful presence is indispensable to the Church’s life and mission, and is the foundation of the New Evangelization. As we celebrate World Day of Cloistered Life, let us honor the holiness and glory of the Blessed Virgin. May she, who was presented in the Temple, intercede so that many young people might dedicate themselves entirely to Your divine service by hidden lives of contemplative prayer and selfless sacrifice. May all of us be mindful of the spiritual and material needs of those who commit their lives to seeking God by fixing their gaze on those things which are eternal. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Larisa Tuttle
University of Dallas
Senior
