How spiritual force is generated : or, the apostolate of the contemplatives


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H
OW
SPIRITUAL

FORCE
IS

GENERATED

OR

THE APOSTOLATE
OF THE

CONTEMPLATIVES

by

A Trappist Monk



UNIVERSITY<5F
CK0IREUAME

LIBRARIES

Yale University Archives



HOW

SPIRITUAL FORCE

IS GENERATED

OR

THE APOSTOLATE

OF THE

CONTEMPLATIVES

by

A Trappist Monk



NIHIL OBSTAT
Fr. M. Mauricius Malloy, O.C.S.O.
Fr. M. Albericus Wulf, O.C.S.O.
die 21 Martii, 1941

Censores

IMPRIMI POTEST
4* Fredericus M. Dunne, O.C.S.O.
Abbas, B. M. de Gethsemani
die 25 Martii, 1941

IMPRIMATUR
4< J. A. Floersh, D.D.

Archiepiscopus Ludovicopolitanus

die 4 Aprilis, 1941

First printing 10M
Second printing 20M

Copyright 1941
by the

Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.

Deacfdfffer:



FOREWORD
The present booklet, written by a Trap-

pist, is composed with a double object in view.
First and foremost, an effort is made to en-
lighten the Catholic laity on a phase of the

Church’s life that is either generally ignored

or grotesquely caricatured. Ask an average
Catholic layman: “What are contemplative
orders?” and the chances are he will answer:
“Religious institutes wherein good pious peo-

ple live and pray, but do no good to outsiders.”
Whilst reading these pages he may conceive
a greater esteem for prayer and thus be led
to practice it more zealously and constantly.

In the next place, an attempt is made to
enlighten and encourage contemplatives them-
selves, particularly Trappists, in regard to
their sublime vocation. Barred as they are, by
the very nature of the case, from being able
to test their life by any visible results and
eternally reproached with doing nothing for
the Church, they need encouragement to go
on and lead their hidden life wholeheartedly.
God and the Church expect very much from
them. The world, on the other hand, has more
need of their prayers and penances today than
it ever had before. In an effort to enlighten,
an exhaustive treatise on the contemplative
life was not so much as thought of; merely a
few fundamental truths are brought to their
notice.

In these pages will be found some gen-
eral notions of contemplation; the work of
contemplative orders, particularly that of the
Trappists, will be sketched; the power of
prayer and penance as means of spreading
the kingdom of Christ will be pointed out;
some reflections on the divine office are put
forward; finally, the work ends with some
conclusions that seem to us to be most ob-
vious.



4 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

The Apostolate of the Contemplatives
Why Contemplatives?

In this country there is a great ignorance
of contemplative orders and of contemplatives
themselves, coupled at times with a streak of
prejudice against them. This is to be found
not only among those who are not of the
household of the faith, but likewise among
Catholics. The average modern American,
living as he does in a preeminently active and
practical country, has little time for a man-
ner of life that is unable to furnish tangible
proofs of utility. An order or congregation
that teaches, preaches, nurses the sick or
cares for the aged and the orphan can be
understood; its achievements can be num-
bered, compared, and evaluated. But con-
templative orders — What do they do? Fos-
silized relics of a (perhaps) glorious past,
they have seen their day and had better pass
off the stage to make room for other religious
bodies who do something.
And truly, why forgo a role of active use-

fulness in a world that has so much need of
us? To flee from so many opportunities of
doing good — from so many youngsters who
need to be taught the very rudiments of the
faith, from so many sick of body who need
to be hospitalized, from so many sinners who
need to be converted, from so many outsiders
(and some of them with the very best of dis-
positions) to be brought into the Church; to
turn one’s back on all this and bury oneself
in the egotistic care of one’s personal salva-
tion — why, the very idea of it is monstrous!
Shame on such censurable apathy towards the
needs of our age! What is the good of segre-
gation from the world in a secluded monas-
tery; what is the good of silence, of a hard
couch, of rising in the middle of the night to
chant psalms, of instruments of penance,
strict fasts, perpetual abstinence from flesh
meat, so much spiritual reading, meditation,



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 5

and manual labor? After all, if pagans are
not housed within the Church because there
are no apostolic souls to go out to search for
them, instruct, and baptize them — what’s
the utility of all that?

Moreover, the fierce attacks that are made
upon the Church all over the world — in Rus-
sia, Germany, and Mexico, to mention the
most outstanding places — the atheism and
the materialism that are strolling through the
country, the anarchy that threatens society,
the shameless corruption that is eating its
way into the family — all these offer a chal-
lenge to every noble son and daughter of the
Church to come forward and lend a hand in
the war she is waging. If we are to hold
what we have, to say nothing of making new
conquests, everybody who can do something
must be up and at work. Contemplative or-
ders may have been good enough in the Mid-
dle Ages. In our times they are an extrava-
gance, one had almost said, a delicate piece
of nonsense. They are comfortable armchairs
in which cowardly souls potter and dream,
ignorant of, or at least indifferent to, what is
going on outside in the world. As a matter of
fact, it would be much better if they were
suppressed; for the Church has no further
need of them.

Contemplatives’ Place in the Church

From the charge of selfishness and inu-
tility it is hoped this pamphlet will acquit
contemplatives beyond the shadow of a doubt.
The reader will find that, as Msgr. Sheen
says, these very contemplatives “love the
world with its human souls so much that they
want to do all they can for it; and they can
do nothing better for it than to pray that
souls may one day find their way to God.”
But even if we suppose for the sake of argu-
ment, that they did not concern themselves
with the salvation of others, they would still
have a right to a place in the Church. We



6 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

have only to read St. Paul’s First Epistle to
the Corinthians, chapter 12, to learn that she
has a multiplicity of works to perform. Ample
provision for all these works is realized by
her different religious orders and congrega-
tions. Says St. Paul:

“Now there are diversities of graces,
but the same Spirit, and there are diver-
sities of ministries, but the same Lord;
and there are diversities of operations, but
the same God, who worketh all in all. . .

.

For as the body is one, and hath many
members; and all the members of the body,
whereas they are many, yet are one body,
so also in Christ. ... If the foot should
say, because I am not the hand, I am not
of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, because I am
not the eye, I am not of the body; is it
therefore not of the body? The eye cannot
say to the hand: T need not thy help’; nor
again the head to the feet: T have no need
of you.’ Yea, much more those that seem
to be the more feeble members of the
body, are more necessary. . . . And if one
member of the body suffer anything, all
the members suffer with it; or if one mem-
ber glory, all the members rejoice with it.”

From a careful reading of this passage
we perceive that the Church, the Mystical
Body of Christ, was planned by His infinitely
wise mind to function as a perfectly organ-
ized body. Hence we expect to find therein a
variety of organs and such compact depend-
ence among these that any abnormal condi-
tion in one will be felt in all the others. It
is unnecessary to say, of course, that the
organs do not exist for themselves; being but
parts of the whole, their function is to con-
tribute to the well-being of the whole. On the
other hand, the whole will not be 100 per cent
itself if its organs are not in first-class condi-
tion. A boy, for example, who carries about
with him a very weak heart, has no business



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 7

on a football field. Should he persist in lin-
ing up with his mates in a game, it will not
be long before he will have to be carried off
the field. Externally he may have the make-
up of an All American back-field man. Never-
theless, because of his defective heart, he is
disqualified for the terrific rough and tumble
treatment of a real game. So it is with the
Mystical Body. A defect in any of its organs
(the hierarchical organization together with
religious orders and congregations, though
not in the same degree, may be considered its
organs), is bound to affect the entire body
to a greater or less extent. Hence we may
safely say that contemplative orders, like
active orders and congregations, have a spe-
cific work to do in the Church. If they do not
do it, or do it only remissly, the Church will
suffer.

Needed in Our Times

As a matter of fact, the contribution of
contemplative orders to the work of the
Church is most efficient and far-reaching. Of
all those whose opinion is worth considering
in this connection, there is one whose words
deserve special attention — the late Pope Pius
XI. Far from thinking that contemplative
orders are out of date and are mere idlers in
the present crisis, this great Pontiff, who did
so much to promote Catholic Action and to
develop the work of the missions, made bold
to say:

“If ever it was needful that there should
be anchorites (those who embrace the
purely contemplative life) in the Church,
it is most specially expedient nowadays,
when we see so many Christians living
without a thought for the things of the
next world and utterly regardless of their
eternal salvation, giving rein to their de-
sires for earthly wealth and the pleasures
of the flesh, and adopting and exhibiting
publicly as well as privately pagan man-
ners that are altogether opposed to the



8 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

Gospel.” (Apostolic Constitution “Um-
bratilem” July 8, 1924, A.A.S. vol. XVI.)

In the same constitution he went on to say:
“It is impossible that those religious,

keeping the rule of their order not only ac-
curately but also with fervor, should not
become and remain powerful pleaders with
our most merciful God for all Christen-
dom.”

Whilst reiterating these views in subse-
quent documents, he more strikingly returned
to them in the Encyclical on Foreign Missions,
“Rerum Ecclesiarum gestarum,” of February
18, 1926. Having referred once more to his
already expressed views on the utility for the
Church of contemplatives and expressing the
hope and the wish that monasteries given
solely to penance and contemplation would
be founded in the midst of the active mission
field, the Holy Father continued:

“Since up till now we have been speak-
ing of your fellow-laborers, either already
enrolled or to be enrolled in the future,
there remains one more thing under this
heading to be suggested for your careful
consideration; which if it could be brought
to being would not a little help, we believe,
towards the more rapid spread of the
faith.

“And just as we earnestly beg superiors
general of such orders, that by the foun-
dation of monasteries, their stricter form
of contemplative life may be introduced
and widely spread in missionary terri-
tories, so likewise in season and out of
season do we pray you, Venerable Breth-
ren, and you, beloved sons, to interest
yourselves therein; for it is marvelous
what measure of heavenly graces such soli-
taries would call down upon your labors.
Nor indeed need it be doubted that such
monks would be at home in your sur-
roundings.”



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 9

Then, referring to the Trappist monastery
in the Vicariate of Peiping with its one hun-
dred monks, most of whom are Chinese by
birth, the Holy Father went on to say:

“Whence it is perfectly clear that our
anchorites, keeping unbroken the rule and
the spirit of their founder, and taking no
part in the life of action, can be daily of
no small help towards the success of your
apostolate. So that if the superiors of
such orders give ear to your appeals and
set up houses wherever you may agree to-
gether that they should, they will do a
thing, in the first place, helpful to the sal-
vation of a vast crowd of heathen, and one
which, in addition, will be acceptable and
agreeable to us beyond the bounds of be-
lief

”

Needed in Pagan Countries

If ever there was a man in Europe or
America who knew the evils of society and
likewise the means and methods best calculat-
ed to remedy those evils, that man was un-
doubtedly Pope Pius XI. Hence we may be
pardoned for calling the reader’s attention to
some points of this document. To begin with,
the Holy Father addressed, not bishops of
large well-organized dioceses, but vicars
apostolic in pagan countries; bishops whose
territories embrace, at times, millions of un-
baptized souls, and who can muster for this
gigantic task only a handful of priests. Look-
ing over the fellow laborers whom these bish-
ops actually have and those whom they may
secure in the future, the Holy Father pro-
posed for their special consideration a class
of laborers whom, in the circumstances, one
might be tempted to overlook or undervalue— contemplatives. These latter, according
to the Pope, will contribute not a little to
the rapid spread of the Gospel. But how are
the contemplatives to do this? By forsaking
their cloisters, opening schools, preaching, and
doing missionary work? Not at all. They



10 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

are to take no part in the active ministry.
They are to do their share by observing their
rule and the spirit of their founder. Far
from inviting them to take part in the active
ministry, the Holy Father pointed out that
this was in the past the cause why contem-
plative orders declined and lost their first
fervor. Hence, whatever good they are to do
for the world is to be accomplished in the
solitude of their cloisters. They are, in fact,
cloistered missionaries.

All really apostolic men have ever been of
the same opinion. Msgr. Lefebvre, Bishop in
Cochin China, had been but a short time con-
secrated when he undertook to establish at
Saigon a monastery of Carmelite nuns. The
governor of the place told him in all sincerity
that, instead of opening a Carmel — a piece
of luxury according to his way of thinking —
it would be more to the point to insure a
Christian settlement. But Msgr. Lefebvre
answered promptly: “What you call a luxury
I consider a prime necessity of the Christian
ministry. Ten nuns who pray will be of more
help to me than twenty missionaries who
preach.”

We shall now look more closely into the
nature of contemplative orders, in order to
find out the secret of their power. We trust
that this study will make at least one thing
clear — that the contemplative is not so
wrapt up with himself as to have no time to
think of the world or of the work of the
Church.

Contemplation
Natural Contemplation

Two men, one a Catholic priest, the other
an atheist professor in a state university,
were standing on the southern rim of the
Grand Canyon looking into its dim and dis-
tant depths. Their gaze met fantastically
shaped rocks — some like a Turkish mosque,
with its domes and its minarets; others like



The Apostolate of the Contempiatives 11

the battlemented castles that stud the banks
of the scenic Rhine; rocks that were red,
brown, purple, yellow, green, and gold. At the
bottom was discernible a thin strip of soiled
silver — the roaring Colorado River as it
rushed madly to the sea. It was, in fact, a
breath-taking sight. For Nature with her
wind and her rain had chiseled strange shapes
from rocks that were as colored as the rain-
bow. After gazing in silence for some time,
the professor said: “Does not all this vastness
make you feel small?’’

“Small?” said the priest, taking in the
whole scene with a sweep of his eye, “why,
no. It makes me feel big, tremendously big.
For I know that my God has been working for
ages with His rain and His snow, His river
and His wind, just that this day I might see
His glory and His grandeur written in stone.”
The reaction in these two men was widely

different, due to each one’s intellectual back-
ground. Be that as it may, they were giving
themselves up — and it is this that concerns
us — to a bit of contemplation. They were
contemplating one of nature’s marvels. The
priest recognized God; the other was con-
scious only of his own littleness. As a matter
of fact, who has not, from time to time, been
ravished by the sight of one of God’s wonders
in the visible creation? Who can analyze his
impressions whilst gazing, for instance, at a
gorgeous sunset off the Golden Gate, or at the
Niagara Falls? Our atheist professor may see
only his own littleness; but any one who has
not abdicated the use of reason will be able
to decipher God’s fingerprints stamped un-
mistakably on all the works of creation.
That is just what God intended.

Supernatural Contemplation

Man can contemplate God, not only in the
works of nature, but also in Himself and in
His mysteries. We read in the Life of the
Seraphic St. Francis of Assisi that on one



12 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

occasion he spent the entire night repeating
the words: “My God and my all.” During this
period good St. Francis forgot everything but
God. He perceived neither the presence of a
companion nor the lapse of time. During
those hours there was not on his part, we may
be sure, any attachment to creatures nor to
sin. Had the whole world with all its riches
been offered to him, he would not have given
them a glance. He would have spurned them
ah.

Were we able to analyze the soul of Fran-
cis in that nightly contemplation (we do not
examine whether it was an active or a pas-
sive contemplation), we should find many
amazing effects of grace. But for our pur-
pose we shall concern ourselves only with the
act of contemplation itself. This consisted of
two processes. In the first place, his soul
looked, gazed at God. This look enkindled in
his heart the fire of divine love; looking and
loving, in fact, are the two characteristics of
contemplation. Doubtless reflections, consid-
erations, and reasonings on God and His
mysteries or attributes, or on the mysteries of
our holy religion, had preceded; but in the
actual contemplation that work was unneces-
sary. Our Saint visioned all that in one clear
glance, a glance that made him realize the
overwhelming lovableness of God. Love was
the result. The more he gazed, the more did
his love increase. As he loved and gazed, the
leaden-footed hours of night sped on unper-
ceived; whilst the glow of his loving heart
found vent in the repeated cry, “My God and
my all.”

Precedents and parallels of this can be
found in the lives of God’s saints and serv-
ants. But let us hasten to say that favors of
this sort are not the exclusive privilege of
the perfect. Any soul in the state of sanctify-
ing grace — and therefore possessing the gifts
of the Holy Ghost — can, and many a one
actually at times does, enjoy minor favors



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 13

of this kind. How often at Holy Communion,
visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament, or at
other times, have we not been favored with
flashes of deep union with God; moments in
which we looked and loved, and forgot every-
thing else!

Thus we find that in natural contempla-
tion there are two elements at work: (1) the
sensible gazing at an object, and (2) a senti-
ment of awe, wonder, reverence, fear, joy, or
similar emotion. So too, in supernatural con-
templation there are two characteristic opera-
tions going on: (1) a mental gazing at a di-
vine truth or object, and (2) an ardent love
for God. It is to be noted that in both in-
stances we are dealing with mere acts of con-
templation. Sometimes they are long, some-
times they are short, it matters little; they
are acts that come and go, leaving the soul, it
is to be hoped, better off for the experience.
We have now to consider contemplation from
a new point of view.

Habitual Contemplation

Not only can man contemplate God by iso-
lated acts, but he can also contemplate Him
by keeping his mind habitually fixed on Him.
The word “habitual” is used with such a
variety of meanings that we must pause to
state precisely the meaning we attach to it
here. Were we to say that a man habitually
votes the Democratic ticket, we’d mean that
he votes for the Democratic party practically
every time he votes; maybe once or twice he
voted otherwise. But election day comes only
once a year; therefore he does not vote in be-
tween elections. However, when we here
speak of contemplation as a habit, or of “ha-
bitual contemplation,” we do not mean that
the only time the soul contemplates God is
during the exercise of mental prayer. What
we mean is that this gazing at God and lov-
ing Him is a permanent occupation of the
soul; an occupation so ingrained in the soul



14 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

that it is, to a certain extent, ever-abiding,
uninterrupted. This, of course, must not be
taken too absolutely; for it is only in heaven
that the soul can be always actually and con-
tinuously engaged in contemplating God.
Owing to man's innate weakness and the de-
mands of his environment, he must take his
share in what is going on around him. Never-
theless, contemplation can with the grace of
God and a wholehearted generosity become
such a second nature that the occupations of
daily life do not distract him from attending
to God and loving Him more or less con-
tinuously. Let us illustrate this by one of the
most beautiful, if not the most beautiful,
thing, in God’s beautiful world — a mother’s
love for her infant child.

A Mother’s Contemplation
A mother spends days, and at times nights

too, in contemplating her child. The little tot
is, we will suppose, playing on the floor with
a stuffed cat. Mother, on the other hand,
though she is busily engaged with her house-
hold duties, follows his every move. When
something has to be done upstairs, she takes
baby with her. Really, he is never out of her
sight. She is forever providing for his wants,
ever divining — as only a mother can divine— his most feeble whimper. Should the lit-
tle one fall sick, her mother love will nerve
her on to work miracles of endurance. For
weeks, for months even, she will hover over
his bedside, ministering to his every need, al-
ways forgetful of herself. At times this love
imparts an almost preternatural keenness to
her senses. A double-headed freight drag may
pass under the window where she sleeps
without disturbing her in the least. But let
baby moan or become fidgety, mother is at
his side immediately, takes in at a glance
what the trouble is and sets to work at once
to remedy it. Soon baby is back in slumber-
land. Now, what is it that imparts such en-
durance, such understanding, such keenness,



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 15

such heroic self-sacrifice to a mother? It is
love. Her whole life is one long service of
love. She looks and loves. Her whole be-
ing is bound up with her child, and this, too,
without any household duty being neglected.
A similar life is led by the true contemplative.

The True Contemplative

When contemplation, understood in the
sense in which we have been speaking — as a
gazing at and a loving of God — so pre-
dominates in a man that it becomes his
habitual, normal, constant occupation, we can
say that that man is a true contemplative.
God becomes the focal point of his entire be-
ing. For (1) his mind, (2) his heart, (3) his
body are concentrated on God; not for one-
half hour or one hour of meditation, but for
the livelong day, plus the waking hours of
the night. At the same time he disengages
himself, as far as his earthly condition per-
mits, from all other occupations and cares.
He occupies his mind with God — mind

includes intellect, memory, and imagination.
All these he endeavors to fill with God — His
attributes, His mysteries, His word as found
in Holy Scripture. His memory recalls all
that God has done for man in general and for
himself in particular; all that He has promised
to his faithful servants. His imagination, in-
stead of feeding on the — alas! too often
trashy — things of the world, rather pictures
to itself scenes taken from the life of our
Lord, of our Blessed Mother, or of the saints,
or of the happiness of heaven.

His heart, too, is centered upon God; by
heart we mean the will as the seat of the af-
fections and as the principle of determination.
The contemplative reserves his affections and
his will for God. Discovering good, infinite
good, in Him, he seeks to unite himself more
and more to the boundless Source of all good;
he takes his pleasure in Him, gives Him the
preference in all things, and tries to procure



16 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

His glory in every possible way. His great-
est concern is to unite his will to the divine
will in every manner that the latter manifests
itself; in one word, he strives to perfect him-
self in the pure love of God.

Finally, his body with its senses and its or-
gans is reserved for God, for His worship, and
for His service. To sing God’s praises, to
celebrate the different feasts of the liturgical
year, to consecrate one’s whole being to Him,
such is the life of the contemplative. His en-
tire being, soul and body, is united to God
and occupied with Him. To such an extent is
this true that, for him, contemplation and
union with God are synonymous terms. Most
assuredly, from the very nature of his earth-
ly existence, he sees and deals with other
creatures, but he does not stop at them. He
digs down and through them, whether they
be persons, things or events, until he comes
to God.

How To Arrive at This
Normally this state or habit of the con-

templative soul is not speedily nor easily ar-
rived at. The Holy Ghost, of course, is the
master of His favors; occasionally He raises
souls to this degree of the spiritual life in a
relatively short time. Besides, some souls
are more generous than others, more deter-
mined than others to conquer themselves;
hence an iron-clad rule that admits of no
exceptions cannot possibly be formulated.
Nevertheless, it is safe to say that it is only
after years of virile exercise that the soul ar-
rives at this degree of union with God. In-
deed, to bring order into one’s life, to moder-
ate the passions, and to tranquillize the ir-
regular motions of the soul to such an extent
that they no longer disturb habitual con-
templation, a man must mortify himself com-
pletely. For to be occupied with God, one
must first be dis-occupied with himself; to
be united, he must be detached. It follows



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 17

from this that the contemplative must exer-
cise himself day by day in greater separation
from creatures in order to arrive at a fuller
union with God. The practices of penance
have for their objective to effect this detach-
ment; prayer, on the other hand, recollection,
and silence have for theirs, to unite the soul
to God.

It is to be borne in mind that union with
God must be effected by union with Jesus
Christ. For, as He Himself says: “No man
cometh to the Father but by Me” (John,
14:6). It is for this reason that St. Paul is
so emphatic in assuring us that all the ar-
rangements of God’s providence have only
one end in view — to make us conformable
to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Like-
wise the operations of the Holy Ghost in souls
are to impart to them Christ’s ways of think-
ing, speaking, and acting. When this is as-
sured, then Christ really lives in them. They
can say with the great Apostle: “I live now,
not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20).

Contemplative Orders

Since this state of contemplation, or union
with God, is the joint product of the Holy
Ghost working in the soul and of the latter’s
cooperation, it is to be expected that souls of
good will are to be found in every walk of
life. Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, to say nothing
of other saints in ancient and modern times,
was a married woman and a mother. To her
own children were added some grandchildren,
whom she took care of also. Evidently, in it-
self this was not an ideal environment for the
making of a contemplative. Notwithstanding,
she was thoroughly contemplative; always
looking at God, always loving Him. But her
contemplation was not because of her state,
was not the normal flowering of her state;
rather it was in spite of her state; of its own
nature her state tended to shatter the calm
and tranquillity necessary for contemplation.



18 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

We have now to consider religious orders that
furnish the milieu proper for such souls as
wish to live to God in complete union.

There is the private, interior, personal
state of a soul established in union with
God; and there is the exterior, public, official
state of an order that is destined to favor
contemplative vocations. Interior, private,
personal contemplation is realized when, as
just stated above, all the faculties of the soul
are concentrated on God; when penance has
separated it from created things, especially
from itself. Whereas exterior, public, official
contemplation is realized in an order that is
established to furnish souls which are called
the environment and the means proper to con-
duct these souls to the afore-mentioned interi-
or, personal contemplation. Contemplative
orders of this kind are organized with the ex-
press end in view of leading souls to this
separation and union. The manifold means
of penance such as enclosure, fasting, manual
labor, austerities and other penances, isolate
the religious, separate and detach him from
all things and from himself. On the other
hand, the divers exercises of prayer, the di-
vine office, Mass, meditation, examination of
conscience, spiritual reading, exhortations,
lead the soul to union with God. Everything
is combined with one end in view, union with
God.

Trappists Are Contemplatives

A cursory glance through the daily life of
the Trappist will show that it is arranged
primarily with a view to prayer. There is
no mention of the outer world nor of external
duties. The holy Mass, divine office, prayer,
and pious reading, which form the exercises
of the contemplative life, occupy the major
part of the day. Furthermore, the Rule ex-
horts the religious to devote himself frequent-
ly to prayer and to have ever before him the
thought of God’s presence. Manual labor it-
self tranquillizes and disposes the soul to



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 19

resume its converse with God; or rather, the
nature of our duties and the monastic silence,
which is never broken, allow the religious to
lead a life of continual prayer. Fasting,
watching, humiliations, and obedience detach
the soul from lower things, disengage it from
the sway of the senses and enable it to wing
its flight to God without impediment. In
short, the vows cut off the principal sources of
worldly cares, the enclosure protects him
from contact with the world, and the rules,
both collectively and severally, tend to dispel
trouble, whether arising from the world or
the passions; they foster solitude of the mind,
of the heart, and of the will. In this way our
monasteries become shrines of holy silence,
filled with God and perfumed with prayer;
shrines wherein is heard only the voice of the
soul praising God, and the voice of God con-
versing with the soul.

Active and Contemplative Orders

Though active orders also make use of
spiritual exercises, meditation, a distinctive
habit, a certain degree of separation from
the world, and many exercises that are found
in the contemplative orders, and in this way
seek direct union with God, nevertheless, by
the activities that bring them into contact
with their fellow men they go to Him indi-
rectly. By preaching, teaching, writing, and
exercising the various corporal and spiritual
works of mercy they aim at going to Him
through their neighbor. And what would
become of the world if they did not devote
themselves to these works as zealously as
they do? Their work is indispensable and de-
serving of all praise.

On the other hand, contemplative orders
have no such works. They have no ministry
that brings them into direct contact with the
outside world. Though they do contribute to
the welfare of their neighbor by their life of
prayer and penance, as we will see later,



20 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

their immediate concern is God. They go to
Him directly. Primarily they are for God
alone.

God’s Rights

“For God alone” may to some sound
strange, exaggerated, out of place. If the
phrase sounds thus it is because in these days
God’s rights are ignored. Strange to say,
some of the most obvious duties of a creature
towards its Creator are the very ones that
men are frequently the most careless in ac-
knowledging and acquitting themselves of. In-
deed we are so self-centered, to such an ex-
tent do we refer everything to ourselves and
evaluate persons, things, and events accord-
ing as they minister to our pleasure, happi-
ness or advantage, that it is the most natural
thing in the world to overlook an important
side of contemplative orders. St. Bernard
says that the reason for loving God is that
He is God. We may say that at least one
reason why there should be contemplative
orders in the Church is that there is a God
and that He is what He is.

He is an abyss of infinite perfections. In
Himself He possesses infinite grandeur and
dignity; He is the Creator of heaven and
earth and of everything that is contained
therein; He, furthermore, preserves all crea-
tures in being each moment of their existence.
By this fact alone He acquires an absolute,
supreme, and inalienable right and dominion
over His creatures’ entire being: over their
bodies and senses, over their souls and facul-
ties, and over every moment of their exist-
ence. He is our universal Benefactor, from
whom we receive all that we have in time
and all that we hope for in eternity. Besides,
He is our Father, lavishing upon us an in-
finite love, communicating to us sanctifying
grace, which, being a participation of the di-
vine nature, makes us children of God and
gives us a right to eternal life. Recognizing
all these rights of God to His creatures’ love



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 21

and service, is it really so strange that some
souls are to be found who consecrate their
entire being to Him alone? Is it too much to
give Him? More than He deserves? And if
we can never do too much for Him because
He is our Creator, our Benefactor, and our
Father, what do we owe Him above all as
our Redeemer? What do we owe Him for
the Crib, the Cross, the Holy Eucharist, the
Sacred Heart?

Lest some one may say that God is will-
ing to waive His unqestioned rights in this
matter in favor of our neighbor, we may re-
call what happened in the house of Simon the
Leper when Mary poured her precious oint-
ment on the head of our Lord. “The disciples,”
says the gospel, “had indignation, saying:
‘To what purpose is this waste? For this
might have been sold for much and given to
the poor.’ ” Christ was very emphatic and
outspoken in her defense. “The poor you
have always with you, but Me you have not
always.” In behalf of contemplatives we
might paraphrase His words: “Everybody
thinks of his neighbor’s welfare. Few, very
few indeed, think of Me and of My rights to
the full and undivided love and service of My
creatures.” As the angels and saints in heav-
en pour themselves out in love and adoration
before the throne of God, it is becoming that
at least some souls should do the same on
earth. Thus they make their apprenticeship
for heaven.

Mystery of Christ’s Hidden Life

Perhaps we have here the reason for
Christ’s hidden life of thirty years. Thirty
long years of manual labor, silence, and ob-
scurity; a life hidden away in the small town
of Nazareth, the most despised town of Gali-
lee. He, the Incarnate Son of God, possessing
in Himself all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge and sanctity, passing ten-elevenths
of His earthly life away from a world that



22 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

needed Him as it needed no one else; a world
that was overrun by errors of all kinds; that
was steeped in idolatry and corruption; a
world in which souls were dying every minute
and which He alone could convert and save.
What was He doing during those thirty
years? Was He indifferent to its fate? Did
He care nothing for the salvation of those
souls? Most assuredly He did care, and care
very much. But He cared for it in His own
way, a way quite different from ours. He
advanced its interests by a life of silence, la-
bor, and prayer. He wished, moreover, to
teach men that God has the first right to our
love, to our service, and to our life. Con-
templatives, therefore, merely follow in the
footsteps of the Master in separating them-
selves from the world in order to give them-
selves up entirely to God and His service.
Though the immediate object of the con-

templative's life is God alone, nevertheless
benefits not a few, nor insignificant, flow from
it to the Church and the world.

Helping the Church

To some it may seem strange that men, far
removed from the world and ignorant of what
is happening therein, should for all that ex-
ercise a beneficial influence on it. True it is,
contemplatives enter their solitude to give
themselves entirely to God and His service,
and apparently to work at the exclusive
sanctification of their own souls. All that
notwithstanding, they are mighty forces for
the salvation of souls and the welfare of Holy
Mother Church. This is one of the principal
aims of their life; aims of this kind are im-
plicitly involved in true love for God. For
one cannot love God without at the same time
loving his neighbor for the love of God. The
contemplative, as well as the religious of an
active order, has and must have love for his
neighbor; the only difference lies in the man-
ner of exercising this love. Without love for



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 23

one’s neighbor it is impossible to be a one
hundred percent contemplative; it is doubtful
if he would be a contemplative at all. This
aspect of contemplative orders we shall now
briefly study.

Ways of Bringing Souls to God

There are two ways of bringing souls to
God: the ordinary, usual way and the excep-
tional way; of both the gospel will furnish
instances. Our Lord, knowing that His death
was not far off and wishing to make sure
some reliable followers would continue His
work, chose from among His most zealous and
capable adherents a select body of seventy-
two disciples. These He sent before Him as
His forerunners, with the mission to heal the
sick and to preach the kingdom of God; He
would follow later on. Having labored ear-
nestly for some time at the work assigned
them, they returned to their Divine Master
and reported success. “Lord,” they exclaimed,
“even the devils are subject to us in your
name.” Here we recognize the ministry that
ordinarily devolves upon priests and mission-
aries: to preach, exercise the spiritual and
corporal works of mercy, and to lead souls
back to God. This, as distinct from the con-
templative, is called the active life. Again,
our Lord told His apostles before His Ascen-
sion: “Going, therefore, teach ye all nations.
. . . Preach the kingdom to every creature.”
St. Paul on his part says: “Faith cometh by
hearing, hearing by the word of God.” Hence
there must be preaching and teaching. This
is the ordinary, and, in the present order of
things, really necessary, way of bringing souls
to God.

Exceptional Way
However, there is another, an exceptional,

way of doing the same work. It consists in
God’s using an unintentional agent, at times
even a positively perverse agent, to bring



24 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

about a conversion. Of a perverse agent we
have an instance in the conversion of the
Venerable Father Libermann. The first push
he got towards the Catholic Church came
from reading one of the works of the infidel
Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Whenever Samuel
Haldeman was asked what brought him into
the Church, he would answer laconically:
“Bugs.” With John Moody’s conversion the
only thing a priest had to do was, practically,
to baptize and receive him into the Church.
He had, guided by the Holy Ghost, read and
studied himself into the truth. There are
other conversions on record that began with
something very insignificant. God makes use
every day of most unexpected incidents to
bring souls from a state of sin to a state of
grace. He is indeed wonderful in all His
works, but in nothing is He more wonderful
than in the conversion of sinners.

The day following the Transfiguration, a
father, whose son was an epileptic and pos-
sessed by a devil, came and threw himself at
our Lord’s feet, begging Him to have pity on
the lad. “I asked your disciples to cure him,”
said the distraught father, “but they were un-
able to' do so.” Our Lord, taking the boy,
healed and freed him from the devil, and
then gave him to his father. After the crowd
had dispersed, the disciples, not a little per-
plexed at their ill success, inquired why they
had been unable to expel that devil and heal
the boy: “Why could not we cast him out?”
“Because of your unbelief,” came the answer.
He went on to add: “But this kind is not
cast out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt.
17:14-20). Our Lord assigns two reasons for
their ill success: (1) weakness of faith; had
their faith been more robust, they would have
been able to cast a mountain into the sea or
even to cast out that devil; (2) a particularly
powerful class of demons, which, to be dis-
lodged, required a more intimate union with
God and a more rigorous practice of penance



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 25

than the apostles could boast of at that mo-
ment.

Pope Pius XI on This Incident

The above incident reminds us of some
words of the late Holy Father, which fit in
here very nicely. In his Encyclical “Caritate
Christi compulsi” (Urged by the Charity of
Christ), under date of May 3, 1932, he said:

“Profiting by so much economic distress
and so much moral disorder, the enemies of
all social order, be they called Communists
or any other name, boldly set about break-
ing through every restraint. This is the
most dreadful evil of our times; for they
destroy every bond of law, human and di-
vine; they engage openly and in secret in
a relentless struggle against religion and
against God Himself; they carry out their
diabolical program of wresting from the
hearts of all, even of children, all religious
sentiment; for they well know that when
once belief in God has been taken from the
heart of mankind they will be entirely free
to work out their will. Thus we see today,
what never before was seen in history, the
satanical banners of war against God and
against religion brazenly unfurled to the
winds in the midst of all peoples and in
all parts of the earth. . .

.

“However, in the face of this satanic
hatred of religion, which reminds us of the
‘mystery of iniquity’ referred to by St.
Paul, mere human means and expedients
are not enough, and we should consider
ourselves wanting in our Apostolic min-
istry if we did not point out to mankind
those wonderful mysteries of light that
alone contain the hidden strength to sub-
jugate the unchained powers of darkness.
“When our Lord, coming down from the

splendors of Tabor, had healed the boy
tormented by the devil, whom the apostles
had been unable to cure, to their humble



26 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

question: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’
He made reply: ‘This kind is not cast out
but by prayer and penance/ It appears to
Us, Venerable Brethren, that these divine
words find a peculiar application in the
evils of our times, that can be averted only
by means of prayer and penance.”

Prayer and penance are, in the mind of
the Holy Father, the most efficacious means
to subjugate those fierce demons that have
been unchained in our own days. Be it noted,
prayer and penance sum up the whole life of
the contemplative. But more of this later.

Christ’s Recommendation

On the point of beginning His third year
of preaching, our Lord, accompanied by His
apostles, went into the villages, towns, and
cities of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every disease and infirmity. The work
was arduous, fatiguing, superhuman. What
most filled His Sacred Heart with distress
was the moral condition of the people. “See-
ing the multitude,” says St. Matthew (9:36-
38), “He had compassion on them; because
they were distressed, and lying like sheep that
have no shepherd.” What program does He,
the Good Shepherd, outline? Strange to say,
He does not order His apostles to throw them-
selves with all possible energy into the work
of converting these people. “The harvest is
indeed great, but the laborers are few. Pray
ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send
laborers into his harvest.” This recommenda-
tion, in the light of the circumstances in
which it was uttered, seems passing strange.
“Pray, intercede, that the Holy Ghost will
raise up zealous workmen, zealous shepherds
to do this work.” We have indicated for us
here the union of the active and of the con-
templative life in the work of the Church.
Some going out, work in the fields of the Lord
and shepherd the straying sheep; others,



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 27

whilst remaining in solitude, bring down by
prayer God’s grace on the formers’ labors. Of
course, they do not work in opposition to one
another; rather, they are working together
for one and the same end — the spread of
the kingdom of Christ.

True it is, every soul of good will that
prays and suffers for the welfare of Holy
Mother Church does his or her share towards
the upbuilding of this grand work; but for
contemplative orders it is their public, official
task. Never before, perhaps, have contem-
platives been more forcefully reminded of
this and of all that the Church expects from
them, than by His Holiness Pope Pius XI.

“It is no wonder that ecclesiastical
writers of former ages, wishing to explain
and extol the power and efficacy of the
prayer of these same religious men, should
have gone so far as to liken their prayers
to those of Moses, quoting a well-known
fact, namely, what took place when Josue
was engaged in battle with the Amalekites
on the plain, and Moses on the top of the
hill near by prayed and besought God for
the victory of his people. It happened that
as long as Moses held his hands raised
heavenwards, the Israelites conquered; but
if from weariness he lowered them a little,
then the Amalekites overcame the Israel-
ites; wherefore Aaron and Hur on either
side held up his arms until Josue left the
field victorious. This most aptly symbolizes
the effect of the prayers of the religious
we have spoken of, since these prayers are
borne up by the august Sacrifice of the
Altar on the one hand, and on the other
by works of penance, as by two props typi-
fied respectively, in a certain way, by Aar-
on and Hur; it being the usual, indeed the
principal, duty of these recluses, as we
have remarked above, to offer themselves
as victims and propitiatory sacrifices for
their own salvation and that of the world



28 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

— a function which they fulfil, as it were,
in an official way” (Apostolic Constitution
“Umbratilem,” July 8, 1924; A.A.S. vol.
XVI).

In the same document the Sovereign Pon-
tiff did not hesitate to say that those who de-
vote themselves with fervor to the contem-
plative life and “who fulfil the duty of prayer
and penance contribute MUCH MORE to the
increase of the Church and the welfare of
mankind, than those who labor in tilling the
Master’s field. Without the formers’ prayers
and penances, which bring down showers of
divine grace, the latter would reap but scant
fruit from their labors.” St. Paul assigns the
reason for this. In his First Epistle to the
Corinthians he says: “I have planted, Apollo
watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore,
neither he that planteth, nor he that watereth
is anything, but God that giveth the increase.”
As a matter of fact, the real though hidden
agent in every conversion is the grace of
God. And that grace is given in answer to
earnest prayer.

In the light of this statement of the Sov-
ereign Pontiff, the words of Msgr. Guebriant,
Superior of the Foreign Missions of Paris, ut-
tered at the Missionary Congress of Lisieux,
September, 1929, will not startle us: “Had I
to choose between the entrance of ten thou-
sand new Christians into the Church and the
foundation of one Cistercian [Trappist] mon-
astery, I would not hesitate an instant. It
is to the monastery that I would give the
preference; because the hopes it holds out for
the future are exceptionally more fruitful.”
Being at the head of a great missionary so-
ciety, we must believe that he knew what he
was talking about and had weighed well his
words before uttering them.

In the preceding pages it has been said
more than once that the contemplative fur-
thers the work of the Church by a life of
prayer and of penance. It is time that we



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 29

say a few words on these, and show how they
come to be such powerful weapons.

Power of Prayer

The Trappist’s prayer is of two kinds: (1)
personal, or private, and (2) liturgical, or
public. In the order of importance and of
efficacy, undoubtedly the first place belongs
to the liturgical prayer, or the divine office.

The Divine Office

To judge correctly of the absolute value of
anything or of any work, we must do so from
God’s point of view. Things are worth only
what they are in God’s estimation; nothing
more, nothing less. This is the sole infallible
criterion of judgment; aside from this we ex-
pose ourselves to error. To see things, then,
as God sees them is to see them with the
eyes of faith. Faith reveals to us God’s
thoughts and allows us to penetrate into His
designs. Of the many things faith has re-
vealed to us, there stands out one great truth
that we must never lose sight of, namely, that
God has made all things for His own glory.
“The Lord hath made all things for Himself.”
This being so, it follows as a rigorous conse-
quence that things are of value only in the
measure in which they procure the glory of
God.

Now, the divine office procures the glory
of God directly. By its very nature and the
elements of which it is composed, it relates
directly to God. The divine office, together
with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is
indeed the center of the sacred liturgy, forms
a complete expression of religion. Of course,
the divine office contains prayers to obtain
God’s blessing on ourselves, but the senti-
ment that overtops every other sentiment is
that of praise. Therefore, the direct object
of the divine office is to praise and exalt God’s
perfections, to delight in them and to thank
Him for them.



30 Haw Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

To get anything like a worthy idea of
what the praise of God really means, we must
by faith lift ourselves up to the very heights
of the Adorable Trinity; there we shall find
the fountainhead of all praise. The Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity is, according
to St. Paul, “the brightness of His [the Fa-
ther’s] glory and the figure of His substance.”
The Word, the Son, is essentially the glory of
the Father. From all eternity He is the
Word by which the Father says to Himself
all that He is; the Word is the living expres-
sion of all the Father’s perfections. In con-
templating Him the Father sees the perfect,
substantial, and living image of Himself.
This is the essential glory of the Father. Had
there been no creation, the Father would
nevertheless have His essential and infinite
glory. By the very fact of being what He
is, the Eternal Word is like a divine canticle,
a living canticle, singing the praise of the
Father, expressing the fulness of His per-
fections. The Father has no need of any
other glory.

But “the Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us,” never ceasing to be what He
was, the eternal Word; consequently He re-
mains ever and always the infinite glorifica-
tion of the Father. However, having united
a human to a divine nature in the unity of
His Person, this Sacred Humanity through
the Word participates in the work of glorifi-
cation. “I seek not my own glory,” said our
Lord, “but the glory of Him who sent me.”
All His activity tended to procure the Fa-
ther’s glory. When Christ prayed, recited
the psalms, or spent the night in the prayer
of God, these were the human accents of a
God. Thus the same canticle of praise which
the Word chanted from all eternity in the
sanctuary of the Godhead, was prolonged on
earth when the Word became man. Hence-
forth the humanity of Christ will forever sing
to the glory of the Father a canticle of human
expression, indeed, but of illimitable value,



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 31

and consequently alone worthy of God. This
glorification of the Father, which He also
furthered by His every act and suffering, was
Christ’s essential work on this earth. For
Him, nothing came before the glorification of
the Father. When at the Last Supper He
said: “I have glorified Thee on earth,” He
summed up His lifework.

The Church Continues the Work of Christ

In ascending to heaven, Christ bequeathed
His riches and His mission to His Church. By
uniting Himself to her, He gave her His pow-
er of adoring and praising the Father. This
is the liturgy. It is the praise of the Church
united to Jesus, supported by Jesus; or rather,
it is the praise of Jesus passing through the
lips of the Church. The priest, when he sings
the Preface at Mass, asks that as the nine
choirs of angels offer their praise to God
through Christ, the Head of Creation, so our
suppliant confession may also ascend to the
throne of God THROUGH HIM. On the
other hand, the Church, in offering her praise
to the Triune God, associates all her children
with herself; for she offers it in the name of
all. Being a society — and the most perfect
of societies because she is modeled on the
Church Triumphant — she owes to God a
public homage, a public tribute of praise and
supplication. But it is impossible for all the
members of the Church to take an equal share
in the accomplishment of this duty; as a mat-
ter of fact, the greater number are incapable
of acquitting themselves of it. Hence she is
constrained to put this obligation on certain
chosen and devoted members, whom she
makes her representatives before God, whom
she commissions to praise Him in her name,
and to beg His help in all her needs. The
Church deputes these to act before the throne
of God as her ambassadors.



32 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

Dual Personality

Though he who recites the office may be
alone and isolated, it is as a public person, as
a minister of the Church, as the representa-
tive of the faith, that he offers this office
to God. True, his lips pronounce the words,
it is his soul that conceives the thoughts and
affections that are expressed by those wbrds;
nevertheless his prayers, thoughts, affections,
and words have been dictated and prescribed
for him by the Church in such wise that, if
he pray, give thanks or beg for grace, it is in
the name of the Church that he does all this.
Therefore we must say that it is the Church
who asks, gives thanks, and prays by her ac-
credited organ. Thus the divine office when
recited by the sacred ministers of the Church
is not a purely personal, individual act. Ra-
ther it is a common prayer, the principal
author of which is the Church; a prayer in the
fruits of which all her children share. As a
consequence of this, he who recites the office
in the name of the Church, by that very fact
puts himself in relation to all the members
of the Church and to God Himself. Like an
ambassador at a foreign court, he enjoys a
dual personality. In his private life the am-
bassador is an ordinary individual. But when
clad in his robes of state he speaks and acts
in the name of his sovereign, he at once be-
comes the representative and, in a certain
sense, the very person of his master. So it is
with the ministers of the Church. In their
ordinary avocations, they are private individ-
uals. But when they recite the divine office,
offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, or ad-
minister a sacrament, they at once put on
an official character; they are the organs and
ministers of Holy Mother Church. For this
reason, the divine office is always pleasing to
God.

If the divine office, looked at from this
angle, takes on such a character of grandeur
^nd sublimity, how great and sublime does it



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 33

become when we consider the multitude, the
sanctity, the fervor of all those who are en-
gaged in reciting or chanting it! What a mag-
nificent concert it is as discharged by the
Church! Hundreds of thousands of holy
priests and religious, bishops and archbishops,
cardinals, and the Pope himself, are all united,
are all using the same psalms and canticles.
There is not a minute of the day or night in
which, from one point of the globe to the
other, the incense of prayer and praise does
not rise to the throne of the Most High. The
world is one vast temple in which voices
without number never tire of repeating the
same accents of adoration, thanksgiving, and
supplication.

Now, it is a general law, a fundamental
principle of revelation, that everyone is bound
to ask God for His help, and to ask Him in
proportion to his individual needs. God is
willing, most willing indeed, to grant us
everything that is necessary for our salva-
tion; He has even bound Himself by a solemn
promise to do so. But as a general rule, He
waits for us to ask for those graces; ordinarily
He measures His gifts according to the dura-
tion and fervor of our petitions. St. James
(4:2) says: “You have not, because you ask
not. You ask and receive not, because you
ask amiss.” All our trouble is due to the
fact that we do not know how to pray.
The Church herself is bound by this law

of prayer just as well as her children; hence
she obliges her ministers to pray without
ceasing. Not that she undervalues the prayers
of the simple faithful; on the contrary, she
prizes them and begs for them. They are
often, as she is well aware, very fervent -

—

like everything that is personal and sponta-
neous; but she also realizes that they are rare
and altogether out of proportion to her needs.
Above all she knows that, depending on vari-
able inspirations and uncertain cooperation,
they do not unite the special conditions that
characterize the prayer of her ministers and



34 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

impart to their intercession a sovereign effi-
cacy.

Divine Office and the Contemplatives

For the contemplative the divine office is
one of his principal duties. And in order that
nothing may distract him from the solemn
choir service, the Church frees him from
every exterior occupation. He has no parish
activity to engross his attention, no mission-
ary project to take him away from worshiping
God with voice and body; consequently he
can give himself without reserve to this great
work, this great apostolate — the apostolate
of prayer.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the pow-
er of prayer, especially of fervent prayer said
in choir. Our Lord said very emphatically:
“If two of you shall consent upon earth, con-
cerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it
shall be done to them by my Father who is in
heaven. For where there are two or three
gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them” (Matt. 18:19). From these
words we see that to have Christ join Him-
self to our prayers and to add His infallible
efficacy to them, it is sufficient that two or
three be gathered together in His name. If
this is so — and no one can doubt it for a
moment — is it possible that He will fail to
listen to a full choir of ardent souls who pour
out the sentiments of their hearts in unison of
voice and soul in the grand Gregorian Chant,
and beg His mercies for a sin-laden world?
St. James, writing under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, assures us that “the contin-
ual prayer of a just man availeth much”
(5:16). If earnestness and perseverance can
give to the prayer of a single soul such pow-
er that it offers a certain violence to God
Himself, what Irresistible power, then, is pos-
sessed by the united prayer of a company of
souls who have consecrated themselves to
Him!



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 35

Trappist’s Life a Liturgical Life

The Trappist rises on ordinary days at
2:00 A.M. (on Sundays and minor feast days
at 1:30, on major feast days at 1:00 A.M.)
to begin his day of liturgical prayer, or the
divine office. From then until he retires (in
summer at 8:00, in winter at 7:00 P.M.) the
disposition of his day is regulated by the
canonical hours, each of which is sung at the
traditional time. For him the divine office
is his first and principal work, to which every-
thing must be subordinated, not only in prin-
ciple but also in fact. Each office is an-
nounced by a “first bell,” which reminds the
religious to prepare his heart for the work of
God, to which he is about to return. Thus the
whole day is one of continuous prayer. The
periods between the different canonical hours
are, as it were, intervals of preparation for
the work of God: either direct preparation —
holy reading, private reading — or indirect
preparation — manual labor, which maintains
the equilibrium of life and tranquillizes the
mind, thus rendering it more capable of ap-
plying itself afresh to divine things. All is
organized in view of the liturgy.

Most assuredly, the liturgical year is not
peculiar to monastic orders, still less to Trap-
pists; all Christians are called upon to par-
ticipate in it according to their opportunities.
But to do so to the full requires, as those who
attempt it seriously soon learn, an applica-
tion of mind that is difficult in the world. In
a Trappist monastery there is nothing to hin-
der this application. Not only the order of the
day, but the days of the weeks and the sea-
sons of the year are regulated by the liturgy;
in fact, the entire life takes its color from the
liturgy.

The Liturgical Year

The liturgy, as a matter of fact, is the re-
enactment of the life of Christ; it is the re-
presentation (making present again) of the



36 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

work of redemption. By means of the litur-
gical cycle Christ re-lives His different mys-
teries. It is to be borne in mind that the an-
nual celebration of these mysteries is not a
mere memorial of the past. Christ lives in
His Church forever, and as Head of the
Church possesses the power of renewing, con-
tinuing, and extending His mysteries through-
out the whole of His Mystical Body. Every
truth of Christ, every miracle, every event of
His life that is celebrated in the liturgy, is a
manifestation of the living Christ. The Church
lives over again the mysteries of her Spouse
in the course of the liturgical year, and we
as members of the Church have our share in
them. For, as the Homan Catechism says,
these mysteries of the life of Jesus have not
only the purpose of presenting to us an ex-
ample for imitation, or a truth to be believed,
but have also the power of producing in our
hearts effects analogous to those mysteries
themselves; in other words, they have the
power of producing in us the living image of
Jesus. What happened in the past is ever
recurring.

Thus the mysteries of Christ’s life are un-
folded before us in orderly succession. Ad-
vent is ever impregnated with a sweet and
mysterious expectancy. Christmas charms
with the incomparable joy of the birth of the
Divine Infant. The Epiphany awakens in us
the spirit of reverent homage to our King and
the spirit of zeal to spread His kingdom. So
with each succeeding season; it has its own
spirit and for those who prepare themselves
properly its own peculiar grace.

Then come the feasts of our Blessed Moth-
er and the saints. Like the feasts of our
Lord, they, too, have a lesson and a grace
proper to themselves. They portray Mary
and the saints with each recurring feast as
more imitable, more fraternal, more inclined
to help us. Thus it is that the liturgical cycle



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 37

never grows stale; it possesses a wonderful
power of renewal.
When, therefore, we speak of a monk com-

ing to the help of Holy Mother Church by a
life of prayer and penance, we mean that he
renders this assistance first and foremost by
his liturgical prayer. It is by this, the prayer
of the Church, which he offers in the name of
the Church and as the ambassador of the
Church, that he exercises his apostolate. He
stands between God and his fellowmen to
pour into the ear of God, on the one hand,
all the interests of the human race; on the
other hand, he returns to his fellowmen with
graces from their Maker. Unknown to them,
he pleads their cause day after day at the
throne of God’s mercy; for he is well aware
that, though the miseries of the human race
are as vast as the ocean, the mercies of God
are far vaster. It is his vocation to be the
canal that carries the graces of the Creator
to His fallen creatures.

Private Prayer

Besides the liturgical prayer, which is the
Trappist’s principal means of aiding Holy
Mother Church, he also has his own private,
individual, personal prayer. However, with
regard to this, an outsider’s calculations must
meet with sad disappointment. The Trap-
pist, according to his horarium, devotes a sur-
prisingly short time to the exercise of formal
mental prayer; one half-hour in the morning
and one quarter of an hour in the afternoon,
three quarters of an hour the entire day!
Whereas one hour or two hours are often pre-
scribed in orders and congregations that are
not contemplative by any means. This seems
strange for a contemplative order.

Be this as it may, the Rule of St. Benedict,
the one that the Trappists follow, mentions
two kinds of prayer: the divine office, “Opus
Dei,” and private prayer. To the divine office
St. Benedict devotes, roughly speaking, twelve



38 Haw Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

chapters of his Rule; twelve chapters in which
he foresees and provides for every detail con-
nected therewith. In sharp contrast with this
are the meager references he makes to private
prayer. In addition to Chapter XX, he has
some allusions to it in the Prologue and in the
Instruments of Good Works. But there is no
precise time allotted to it; there is no sug-
gestion of anything like a method of mental
prayer. Does all this argue a lack of esteem
for mental prayer on the part of St. Benedict?
By no means. According to him, mental
prayer is not a separate exercise of the day,
but the habitual element in which the monk
should live; it is the spiritual atmosphere
that he should breathe; it should permeate his
entire life; it is as indispensable to his spir-
itual life as air is to his physical life. With-
out it the “Opus Dei” cannot be discharged as
it should, for our minds must be in accord
with our voices. The basic disposition of such
a life of prayer is what our Saint frequently
speaks of as the holy fear of God, a descrip-
tion of which he gives in the First Degree of
Humility. Fear of God, in the mind of St.
Benedict, means walking habitually in the
presence’ of God, never losing sight of Him,
always conversing with Him.

The short periods which the rule prescribes
for mental prayer in common, therefore, indi-
cate only a minimum, which the average
Trappist greatly exceeds in actual practice.
One has to meet the monks only casually to
verify this. The very fact that he wears his
choir dress (the cowl is a surplice) at all
times, apart from work periods, is a reminder
to the Trappist that he should “pray without
ceasing.”

Personal Love of Jesus Christ

Another characteristic of the Rule — if
indeed it be another and not rather an appli-
cation and development of the habitual
thought of God — is a deep love for the di-



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 39

vine Person. of Jesus Christ. Even a cursory
glance through the Rule of St. Benedict will
show the outstanding place Christ holds in
the teaching of our Saint. It has been said,
and said correctly, that the Rule “Christifies”
the soul that allows itself to be moulded by it;
this is the same as saying that the Rule is
Christo-centric. Whether it recommends the
practice of virtue or outlines conduct in rela-
tion to various persons, it ever keeps before
the monk’s mind the Person of Jesus Christ.
Obedience prompt and without hesitation will
be practiced only by those who prefer nothing
to Christ; it is He whom we obey in our su-
periors. As regards persons — abbot, breth-
ren, guests, poor, even enemies — the monk
is to see Christ in them all. Before conclud-
ing the Rule St. Benedict gives one last rec-
ommendation, which expresses his spirit —
to prefer nothing to Christ.

Evidently, to live up to this program the
monk must have a lively, vigorous faith. For
many within the Church, to say nothing of
those outside her pale, Christ is indeed the
Son of God and the Savior of the world. But
this faith is a seedless fruit, a sleeping, life-
less soul; it contains no vitalizing energy in
it. On the contrary, to the monk who possesses
the faith that St. Benedict wishes him to have,
Jesus Christ is the one big reality of life; a
reality in which his heart rests; a reality in
which his energies, powers, talents, and what-
ever else he may have in his make-up find
their focal point. For him Christ must in-
evitably become a living Person; a Person
who still saves, and sanctifies, and vivifies
him. Thus is effected in him the progressive
assimilation of Christ’s principles and virtues.
Gradually he comes to see, think, act, and
suffer as Christ. A life separated from the
noise of the world, a life of perpetual silence
filled with holy reading and daily exhorta-
tion — all this little by little moulds a soul
into a man of prayer; into a man for whom
Christ is all.



40 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

Reciprocally, if Christ is everything to him,
he in turn becomes everything to Christ;
for God cannot be outdone in generosity. St.
Paul assures us that those whom He fore-
knew He predestined to be made conformable
to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). Re-
semblance to Christ is the result of the con-
templative life as outlined by St. Benedict; it
enables the monk to realize to a greater or
less extent St. Paul’s “I live, now not I, but
Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). Precisely be-
cause of this — this indwelling of Christ in
him — the contemplative’s prayer has such
power over the heart of God and contributes
so mightily to the welfare of the Church.

Love for the Blessed Virgin

Wherever there is real, personal love for
Jesus Christ, there normally, one might al-
most say, necessarily, will be found also deep
love for His Virgin Mother; love for Christ
and love for Mary go hand in hand. Hence
one is prepared to find devotion to Mary in
high honor among the Trappists. Besides the
divine office which they, like other monks,
discharge every day in choir, the Trappists in
addition recite every day in choir the Little
Office of the Blessed Virgin, whose special
servants they proclaim themselves to be. This
Little Office is recited to implore her interces-
sion for the conversion of sinners, the salva-
tion of souls throughout the world, and the
expansion of the Church Militant. All Trap-
pist monasteries are dedicated to the Mother
of God. The first office that they say in the
morning is the Blessed Virgin’s, and their
last prayer in the evening is the solemn chant-
ing of the “Salve Regina.” Indeed, they ten-
der her, with due proportion of course, al-
most as many marks of honor as they do to
her Divine Son. She is their principal patron,
the patronal feast being the Feast of the
Assumption, August 15.



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 41

Penance

The second means the contemplative uses
to help the Church and his neighbor is pen-
ance. Penance is a supernatual virtue, al-
lied to justice, which inclines the sinner to
detest his sin as an offense against God, in-
duces him to avoid it for the future, and also
to offer satisfaction for it. Evidently, pen-
ance strictly considered concerns the one who
sins. He hates sin as an offense against God
and tries to undo it to the best of his ability.
Furthermore, he makes satisfaction for it,
thus endeavoring to return God the glory of
which he robbed Him by his sin. Every
mortal sin is a grievous offense against God
and brings upon the sinner untold spiritual
consequences. By the commission of mortal
sin the sinner turns away from God •— that
God who made him, redeemed him, and gave
him everything he has in time or — were he
faithful — might hope for in eternity; by sin
he turns to a creature, and thereby brings
upon himself the wrath of his Maker, whom
he expels from his soul. In addition, he for-
feits sanctifying grace, all the infused virtues
that go along with it — except faith and
hope; loses, until penitent, his merits, and be-
comes amenable to hell. If he die in that
state, he will be buried therein for all eter-
nity. Unless God come fo the rescue of the
soul, it is lost. That He may look down with
eyes of mercy upon it, the contemplative leads
his life of penance. When penance is per-
formed for others, it is commonly called
reparation.

Reparation Incumbent on All

According to the teaching of Pope Pius XI,
in his Encyclical “Our most Merciful Redeem-
er, of May 8, 1928, all of us are obliged to
offer God this tribute of reparation; we are
obliged by the double duty of justice and of
love. Since the Holy Father explicitly states
that this duty is incumbent on the entire hu-



42 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

man race, it follows that penance, or repara-
tion, is not reserved only for contemplatives.

Incidentally, we may be permitted to re-
mark — and the remark is not altogether out
of place — that most people have a very er-
roneous idea of Trappists. People commonly
imagine that the Trappist is one who, while
in the world, broke all the Commandments of
God and was an out-and-out sinner. This is
not the truth. Of course, not all Trappists
were so innocent as St. Aloysius or St. Ther-
ese of Lisieux (alas, how few such there are
in these days!), nevertheless the rank and file
are recruited from the average good Catho-
lics of the world. Not infrequently, excep-
tionally innocent souls are to be found among
them, who left the world precisely to get
away from its corruption. They did this in
order to be able to live for God alone. Now
to come back to our subject:

In making satisfaction for sin the contem-
plative does not forget that he himself has
offended God, nor does he overlook the rigid
obligation of offering satisfaction for his sins;
certainly not. But his penance is not exclu-
sively, not even mainly, personal; rather it is
social, vicarious. He does penance for a world
that flouts all restraint and makes a fetish of
self-expression — a new name for a rather
ancient article, self-gratification.

The spirit of reparation is very prominent
in the Church today, and it is to be hoped
that it will become more widespread as time
goes on. Individuals in goodly numbers make
it a point of their life to offer reparation to
God for the countless sins that are committed
against Him. On the other hand, many re-
ligious congregations have reparation as the
very soul of their institute. The misery and
distress, moreover, that grip the world today
are, if viewed in the right light, evidences
that God Himself is at work to bring men to
a sense of their wrong-doing and to do pen-
ance for their sins. Hence, no one will be



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 43

surprised to learn that reparation holds an
outstanding place in the life of the contem-
plative. His very name, “monachus,” one who
mourns in solitude, implies that much. Rep-
aration seems to many to be the principal end
of contemplative orders. Msgr. Sheen, for
example, speaking of reparation, says:

“Such is the reason for the communities
in the Church, such as the Carmelites and
Poor Clares, the Trappists and the Car-
thusians, and many others whose supreme
business in life is to repair the harm done
by others, and to bring succor to those
who cannot help themselves. The world is
full of those who sin and atone not; who
offend God and never repent; who have
their sins forgiven, but who never do pen-
ance. These poor, burnt, anemic, wounded
members of the Mystical Body of Christ
may yet be saved by those who, out of
their superfluities, expend spiritual wealth
for the salvation of souls. . .

.

“In these days when the world regards
sin as a lesser evil than a headache, the
value of reparation in the Mystical Body is
apt to be overlooked. It needs to be re-
peated that reparation exists because there
is sin. In every sin there is a double ele-
ment: the joy of a forbidden fruit and the
act of disobedience against God. ... It is
not enough to be sorry for our sins. Sin
involves a debt, and the debt must be paid.
It is not sufficient for a man who has run
into great debt to say to his creditors: T
am very sorry I have contracted such
debts. I will not run up any more in the
future/ He must pay the debts in addi-
tion to being contrite. So likewise with
sin. It is not enough to tell God we are
sorry for our sins; we must pay the debts
we have contracted by them.”

The contemplative’s life work is to make good
the debts which others have contracted, to
offer God the atonement that He fails to re-



44 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

ceive from so many sinners. In doing so he
shows at one and the same time true love for
God and genuine love for his neighbor.

But one may ask: “How can I pay the
debt of another man, debts that I have not
contracted?” To this we may answer that,
owing to His infinite mercy and to the Com-
munion of Saints, God willingly accepts vi-
carious atonement for the sins of others. Just
as our Lord by His passion and death atoned
for the sins of the whole world — He did not
suffer for Himself, He had no sins to suffer
for — so we may pay the debts others owe to
God’s justice. It is of faith that we may aid
the souls in purgatory by offering satisfaction
for their sins. Under certain conditions we
may do the same for the living. Among men
payment of a debt by a friend of the debtor
is sometimes accepted.

Teaching of Pius XI on Reparation

In order to steady ourselves and not run
into exaggeration in the matter before us, we
shall recall the teaching of Pope Pius XI in
the afore-mentioned encyclical on reparation.
Stating the fundamental truth that any and
all reparatory value which our good works
may have depends entirely on the Sacrifice
of Christ on the Cross, and that He wills that
His Sacrifice should be renewed without in-
termission on our altars, the Holy Father goes
on to say that to this Eucharistic Sacrifice
must be joined the immolation of both the
ministers and the faithful, so that they may
offer themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and
pleasing unto God. To such an extent is this
true that St. Cyprian did not hesitate to af-
firm that the Sacrifice of the Lord could not
be celebrated in a legitimate manner unless
the oblation and sacrifice of ourselves corre-
spond to the Passion. Hence St. Paul tells us
that we must always carry about with us the
mortification of Christ; that we ought to cru-
cify our flesh with its vices and concupiscences



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 45

(Gal. 5:24), fleeing the corruption which is
in the world; that we should see to it that
the life of Christ is made manifest in our
bodies (2 Cor. 4:10), and thus, having be-
come participants in His eternal priesthood,
we should offer gifts and sacrifices for sin
(Hebr. 5:1).

Affirming the too often forgotten truth
that all of us, not only the duly ordained but
the layfolk also, share in this mystical priest-
hood, the Sovereign Pontiff continues to say
that we should offer sacrifice for ourselves
and for the entire human race. He then pro-
ceeds to furnish a criterion whereby we can
appraise our acts of reparation. “The more
perfectly our self-oblation and our self-sac-
rifice resemble the Sacrifice of Christ — that
is to say, the more we immolate our self-love
and our desires, and crucify our flesh with
that mystical crucifixion of which the Apostle
speaks — the more abundant fruits of pro-
pitiation and of expiation for ourselves and
for others shall we reap.” From all this we
can readily understand both the nature and
the necessity of reparation.

Without fear of being contradicted, we
may safely assert that the life of the con-
templative is a literal living of the program
outlined in the above words of the Holy Fa-
ther. The contemplative’s life may be truly
summed up as a life of reparation; a life of
penance that is at one and the same time priv-
ative and afflictive. To be sure every re-
ligious by his vows and rules must deprive
himself of much, indeed of very much. But
the stripping of earthly things that the con-
templative is called upon to make is more
complete. To him are denied most of the
comforts, satisfactions or compensations that
are permissible, yes, under certain circum-
stances even necessary, to religious engaged
in active work. Down deep at the bottom of
this denudation lies the spirit of reparation.
The sinner despising and separating himself



46 Haw Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

by mortal sin from the supreme Good, and not
wishing to have any more to do with God’s
friendship or His grace, turns to creatures for
happiness. For this insult to God he deserves
to be punished by the privation of all good in
time and in eternity. In order to repair the
offense that is thus offered to God and at the
same time to save the guilty sinner, the con-
templative strips himself of superfluous
things, and reduces permissible things to the
merest minimum possible. In this way he
offers God a homage which, by its being
united to the Sacrifice of Christ, is a com-
pensation for the sinner’s act of disobedience.

The Ax to the Root
If we examine sin more closely, we shall

find that it has two principal sources: the
mind, productive of pride; the other, what
Holy Scripture calls “the flesh,” productive of
sensuality. As a matter of fact, tracing sin
back to its origin, the sin of our first par-
ents, we find there these two characters.
“For God doth know that in what day so-
ever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be
opened; and you shall be as Gods, knowing
good and evil” (pride). “And the woman saw
that the tree was good to eat and fair to the
eyes, and delightful (sensuality) to behold;
and she took the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave to her husband who did eat” (Gen.
3:5 and 6).

Long examination is not necessary to come
to the conclusion that the privations and the
penances of the contemplative aim at waging
a relentless war against these two vices.
From morning till night, and from night till
morning too, there is always some prescrip-
tion or other pressing upon him. At one time
a prescription will exercise him in humility,
then another will pinch the flesh in some way.
As a result they, one and all, make a holo-
caust of him; sooner or later, provided he



The Apostolate of the Contemplattves 47

puts into his observance the soul that he
should, he becomes a whole-burnt offering.

And Why?
The big motive behind it all is love of God

and love of one’s neighbor. Without this love
the contemplative’s life would be meaningless.
The world today is running madly after
pleasure; in its frenzy it rides roughshod over
God’s law and makes no fuss about the matter
either; it never thinks about atoning for its
sins. If God is to be placated, somebody else
must be world-proxy. This is the contempla-
tive’s work. Hidden away from the world, un-
known to the world or, perhaps, even despised
by it, he tries to give God what He is de-
prived of by sin. Hence the complete strip-
ping of all those creature-comforts which the
modern world has brought itself to believe
necessary for its existence; hence the varied
afflictive and privative exercises and penan-
ces that he takes upon himself. His is a
veritable thirst to pay the unredeemed debts
of his fellowmen.

Sons of the Soil

Of these penitential prescriptions we shall
here single out but two or three for special
mention. They are manual labor, the com-
mon life, and silence. The reader will bear
in mind what was said in the foreword when
reference was made to Trappists; for the
above exercises will be considered as they are
by them practiced. According to the Consti-
tutions of the Cistercians of the Strict Ob-
servance (popularly called Trappists), the
monks gain their livelihood by the labor of
their hands, principally by agriculture or by
stock raising. They are to be self-supporting.
Being vegetarians, they have to raise the crops
needed for their sustenance. Hence they are
to be found doing outdoor work in the heat of
summer as well as in the cold of winter. As
might be surmised, the labor that is involved



48 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

in the two above-mentioned pursuits is or-
dinarily of a humiliating character; in addi-
tion, it is at times of a painful nature. And
precisely for these reasons it is one of
the most important phases of the penitential
life led by the Trappist. So important is
manual labor in the monk’s life that the early
Fathers of Citeaux laid it down as one of the
foundation stones of their reform. In reality
it is the penance that God imposed on man
after his fall. “In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat thy bread” (Gen. 3:19). It retains
today its penitential sting and enables the
contemplative — at the same time that he
gives the world a much-needed lesson in in-
dustry — to offer God reparation and atone-
ment for the indifference of a sinning world.

Never Alone

The common life, or better the life-in-
community, is another exercise of penance.
For the Trappist, life-in-community is car-
ried to such a point that it may truly be af-
firmed no other order in the Church calls for
it to the same extent. As it is lived by him,
it means to be always in the company of his
brethren, to be always together. He has no
private room to which he may retire for study
or leisure. He works in common, takes his
meals in the general dining-hall, chants his
office in public choir, passes his intervals
(periods when he is free to pray, study, read,
or write) in a common “scriptorium,” and
sleeps — though in partitioned-off, still con-
tiguous, cells — in a common dormitory; he
is never alone. Perhaps there is no other or-
der or congregation in the Church in which
life-in-community is so complete, so absolute.

Most assuredly this life has advantages of
the highest order. For some characters it is
ideal. In it they find a support for their
weakness, a spur urging them on to lofty
aspirations and noble deeds. But, taking hu-
man nature as it is, it is next to impossible



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 49

to live it without a continuous exercise of
penance. For in every community there are
differences — and the larger the community
the greater the differences — of character,
temperaments, talents, propensities, and edu-
cation; from all these there results a contin-
uous jarring of sensibilities. Moreover, this
goes on, not for one or two years, but for a
lifetime, with the same brethren, in the same
monastery. As a consequence, an unceasing
demand is made on one’s patience, humility,
mortification, charity, and on a score of other
virtues, which, taken together, make life-in-
community a very sizable item of penance.

The Silent Brotherhood

Trappists are known the world over for
their silence; as a matter of fact, they are
called the Silent Brotherhood. Not that they
never use their tongues, for they use that use-
ful organ in singing the praises of God at
the divine office and the High Mass; nor be-
cause they are never allowed to speak, for at
certain times and places they may speak to
the first two superiors. But they are never
allowed to indulge in conversation with one
another and never have recreation. They
have a very limited number of non-alphabetic
signs for indispensable communications with
one another. The rule of silence, however, is
never suspended, not even on the great holi-
days.

Undoubtedly, silence is one of the most
efficacious means of developing a life of union
with God; this is the same as saying1 that
silence is a powerful means of sanctification.
St. Luke tells us: “The kingdom of God is
within you” (17:21). As a matter of fact the
soul of the just man is a temple wherein the
Holy Trinity resides. Silence befits such a
sanctuary. Our tongues, bedewed each morn-
ing with the Blood of Christ in Holy Com-
munion, abstain from converse with men in
order to converse more intimately with God.



50 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

An interior life without some kind of silence
is impossible.

St. James truthfully says that the tongue:
. . is a world of iniquity ... an unquiet evil,

which no man can tame” (3: 6, 7, 8). Yet the
man who wishes to advance in virtue must
at all costs try to tame it; hence the peniten-
tial aspect of silence.

If we wish to regulate our words, we must
regulate our thoughts; to regulate thoughts,
we must regulate and pacify our passions.
From this it is clear that silence entails an
unremitting vigilance in watching over our-
selves and curbing our impulses. For it is
most natural to excuse oneself when one is
guilty of a fault; it is most natural to air
one’s ideas about things around us; to mur-
mur when things fall out contrary to our
wishes; to indulge from time to time in silly
boasting about self and self’s doings.

Silence, moreover, decidedly aggravates the
burdens of the life-in-community. Frictions
are bound to arise, even if all the members of
the community be saints; a word could at
times ease off the unpleasant situation. Many
a misunderstanding might never exist if a
word of explanation were forthcoming at the
proper time; a word of counsel or remon-
strance given with genuine sympathy could
go far to soften and allay a troubled mind.
Occurrences of this nature happen every day.
So when all is said, though silence is indis-
pensable for the contemplative life, it must,
nevertheless, be numbered among its salient
penances.

Up-to-dateness of Prayer and Penance

Prayer and penance, then, are the weapons
that the contemplatives use to further the
cause of the Church of God. They are the
weapons that were used by them from the
very beginning of the Christian Era, and
they are just as potent today as they ever



The Apostolate of the ContempLatives 51

were. Pope Pius XI, pointing out the dangers
of Atheistic Communism and indicating the
means whereby Christian civilization can be
saved from the satanic scourge — and not
merely saved but better developed — for the
well-being of human society, utters words
which show that prayer and penance are still
powerful and efficient in overcoming the
greatest evil that has thus far beset the hu-
man race.

“But ‘unless the Lord keep the city, he
watcheth in vain that keepeth it.’ And so,
as a final and MOST EFFICACIOUS
REMEDY, We recommend, Venerable
Brethren, that in your dioceses you use the
most practical means to foster and in-
tensify the spirit of prayer, joined with
Christian penance. When the apostles
asked the Savior why they had been un-
able to drive the evil spirit from a demo-
niac, our Lord answered: ‘This kind is not
cast out but by prayer and fasting.’ So,
too, the evil which today torments human-
ity can be conquered only by a world-
wide crusade of prayer and penance. We
ask especially contemplative orders, men
and women, to redouble their prayers and
sacrifices to obtain from heaven efficacious
aid for the Church in the present struggle.
Let them implore also the powerful inter-
cession of the Immaculate Virgin who,
having crushed the head of the serpent of
old, remains the sure protectress and in-
vincible Help of Christians” (March 19,
1937; Vatican Press translation, N.C.W.C.
publications).

The Contemplative Is a Victim

Every contemplative is a victim for the
salvation of the world. It was in this spirit
that the Little Flower entered Carmel, and it
was the spirit that animated her during her
short life. It is the spirit, too, that animates
every true contemplative. For the one time



52 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

that he prays explicitly and exclusively for
his own salvation, he prays at least twenty
times for the salvation of the world. This,
however, not because he is so sure of his own
salvation that he need have no concern about
it; still less because he believes himself con-
firmed in grace; but simply because he knows
full well what kind of Master he serves. St.
Teresa of Avila told her daughters that the
reason why she founded the convent of St.
Joseph was that they should pray and offer
themselves for the salvation of the world.

If asked what it is that gives the con-
templative such intercessory power over the
heart of God, we should reply that the an-
swer is to be found in the very nature of his
vocation. In imitation of Jesus Christ, whose
different states he reproduces, the contem-
plative offers his freedom, his talents, his en-
tire life and person before the majesty of
God’s claims. Relinquishing all earthly com-
forts, he abandons himself without reserve to
God’s good pleasure; God is the goal and the
rule of all that he does; he espouses God’s in-
terests as his own. Now you cannot outdo
God in generosity. He repays this total sur-
render of self with wonderful graces. With
Dom Innocent La Masson, General of the Car-
thusians in the seventeenth century, we may
say that the contemplative is, in the strict
sense of the word, a courtier and intimate
friend of God. Seated at His feet, like Mary
of Bethany, his adoration, worship, and at-
tendance are never interrupted; and his
prayer assumes the charatcer of holy inti-
macy. God on His part, who loves that we
should do violence to His mercy, throws open
to the contemplative the treasury of His
favors.

Conditions of Efficacious Prayer

As a matter of fact, three things make for
efficacious prayer and penance: (1) sanctity
of life, (2) fervor, and (3) union with our



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 53

Lord Jesus Christ. The value of an act de-
pends upon the dignity of the person who
performs it and the degree of esteem in which
he is held by the one who rewards the act.
What constitutes the dignity of the Christian
and makes him dear to the heart of God is
the degree of sanctifying grace, of divine life,
that he possesses. This is why the saints en-
joy such great power of intercession. Hence,
if we possess a higher degree of sanctifying
grace, we are worth more in the eyes of God
than one who possesses less; we please Him
more and give Him more glory. For this
reason our actions are more noble, more
agreebale to Him, and are more meritorious.

In the holiest of actions it is possible for
us to be careless and remiss, or we may act
with vigor and energy, making use of all
the actual grace put at our disposal. Evi-
dently there will be a vast difference in the
value of our prayers and penances according
as we act in one or other of these ways.

Jesus Christ is the source of our merit
and the author of our sanctification, the chief
meritorious cause of all supernatural good,
the Head of the Mystical Body, of which we
are members. It is clear that the closer we
keep to Him, the more abundant graces we
receive, the more pleasing we are to the Fa-
ther, and the greater will be our influence in
behalf of others. Our Lord tells us this Him-
self: “In that day you shall ask in my name;
and I say not to you, that I shall ask the
Father for you; for the Father Himself lov-
eth you because you have loved Me, and have
believed that I came out from 'God” (St. John,
16:26 and 27). What makes us pleasing to
the eternal Father is the fact that we are
members of Christ’s Mystical Body; of our-
selves we amount to nothing, but united to
Jesus, we are irresistible.
By reason of his solitude, his silence, and

the habitual occupation of his soul — contem-
plating God and the eternal truths — the



54 Haw Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

contemplative is in an ideal environment for
realizing the three afore-mentioned conditions
of efficacious prayer and penance. Knowledge,
for him as for anybody else, begets love. Psy-
chologically, it is impossible to love some one
whom we do not know or do not know some-
thing about. But the contemplative is al-
ways studying God, contemplating Him, con-
versing with Him, worshiping Him, occupied
with Him in one way or another. It stands
to reason, then, that he should grow in love
of God in proportion as his knowledge of God
increases. All this the more so, as Christ came
precisely to cast fire, the fire of divine love,
on the earth.

Blind Fighting

The contemplative, following the example
of St. Paul, “fills up those things which are
wanting of the sufferings of Christ in his
flesh for His body, which is the Church” (Col.
1:24). His entire life is as much devoted to
the welfare of his fellowmen as it is to his
own spiritual interests. But he labors under
one great difficulty, a difficulty that at times
is a source of discouragement to him, occa-
sionally even becoming a real temptation: he
seldom, if ever, sees the results of his prayers
and penances. A priest in the active ministry
may be able to state very accurately the num-
ber of his baptisms, First Holy Communions,
confirmations, converts, marriages; he can
point to the school or the rectory that he has
built; he has a list of young men whom he
sent to the seminary or to the different
brotherhoods, and also of the girls he sent
to the convent. All these furnish him real
joy and afford him genuine consolation; they
are a worthwhile compensation for the sacri-
fices he has made in the service of God and
his fellowman. But the contemplative has
not, and from the very nature of the case can-
not have, any such consolation. His is a hid-
den life in itself and in its fruits. God alone
knows what he is accomplishing. He has to



The Apostdate of the Contemplatives 55

live by faith. In the beginning of World
War I an English artilleryman, writing of his
experiences, stated that for a whole day he
had been fighting furiously, yet never once
saw a single German soldier; the enemy were
two or three miles away. However, the range
finders had located the enemy for him; his
commanding officer specified the proper ele-
vation and direction to be given the gun; then
he was told to “Fire away!” All he had to
do was to fire. The results were no concern
of his. Yet he was sure all along that he was
doing efficient work. So it is with the con-
templative. He fights on without being able
to see the results of his life of prayer and
penances. But he falls back on his faith. He
trusts God. He willingly waits until he
reaches the other side of the grave. Then
there will be no possibility of vanity or pride.

Conclusion

The preceding pages have not been writ-
ten, needless to say, in an endeavor to belittle
those engaged in the active ministry, nor is
it intended to disparage the many works of
zeal that are being carried on in this country.
It is quite evident that these works are neces-
sary for the salvation of those in the Church
as well as for the conversion of those outside
her pale. By all means let priests, religious,
and laymen join hands in extending the king-
dom of Christ. There is place for everybody
and work for every talent. Good can be done
and is being done in shop, office, club, school,
college, and university. Nor can anybody
deny that this work is brilliant or that the
lives of those engaged in it are generally an
example of self-sacrifice, at times, even of
heroism. The first to applaud this is the con-
templative himself. The sight of it is an in-
centive to him to redouble his prayers and
penances in order to bring down God’s bless-
ing on the work and the workers.



56 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or.

At the same time, however, we are con-
fronted with two hard-as-brass facts, which
it would be futile to deny. On the one hand,
an immense amount of effort has been ex-
pended in every imaginable way to bring our
separated brethren into the Church and to
lead erring members of the Church to better
sentiments. To be sure, many conversions
have been made, and this is something very
great. But — to say nothing of a leakage that
is ever on the increase and threatens to ex-
ceed the number of conversions — has any
real solid impression been made on the na-
tion at large? Men of ability and zeal, like
David Goldstein and his fellow crusaders,
bring the teaching of the Church to the man
in the street; learned and eloquent lecturers,
like Msgr. Sheen, convey the message of sal-
vation over the air to millions; an ably-edited
Catholic press spreads the truth over the
United States, yet our country has not been
converted; and this notwithstanding the fact
that there are thousands, hundreds of thou-
sands, of men and women who are hungry for
the truth and would give their heart’s blood
for it if they only knew where it is to be
found. This is the second fact — meager
visible returns for all the labor expended.
What is the cause?
Of course, no one may pretend to know all

the ways of God's providence in regard to
His Church. Without doubt this sterility is
due to a coalition of various causes. Yet for
all that, judging from the history of the
Church, it seems certain that the volume and
quality of prayer and penance demanded for
such a gigantic result is not forthcoming.
During World War I it was computed that
for every soldier in the trenches two helpers
were needed behind the lines to keep him
going. These helpers had to prepare ammuni-
tion, foodstuffs, and the thousand and one
other things that were necessary for the men
in the trenches and had to bring these things
up to them; there was, in addition, a large



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 57

army of doctors, nurses, Red Cross aids, etc.,
etc. Without all these the fighting men might
have stayed at home; they could not have won
the war. Something like this takes place in
the battles the Church wages with the powers
of evil. She has her active soldiers, who go
right into the thick of the fight and engage
the enemy in a hand-to-hand encounter. But
behind this battle front another army of help-
ers is indispensable.

Though the Church in the United States
suffers in some places from a lack of active
workers, the real trouble is not in that quar-
ter; her great handicap is insufficiency of
those who pray and do penance for others.
Contemplatives, sharing as they do more
closely than others in the expiatory sacrifice
of the Son of God, because they perpetuate in
themselves the sufferings and Passion of
Christ, have the duty and privilege of assist-
ing the Church in this all-important need.
For it was by the Cross that Christ saved the
world; and it is by the same means that the
fruits of the Cross are to be applied to the
souls of men. Hence He willed that the Sac-
rifice of the Mass, the unbloody Sacrifice of
Calvary, should be offered daily on our altars.
He also wills that His Mystical Body should
likewise perpetuate His sufferings in them-
selves day by day. Contemplative orders, de-
voted as they are to prayer and penance, are
official victims, filling up in their flesh those
things that are wanting of the sufferings of
Christ. Of course, nothing was wanting to
the sufferings of Christ; one drop of His Pre-
cious Blood was sufficient to redeem a thou-
sand worlds worse than our own. What is
wanting, or to put it in another way, the con-
dition on which He willed that the applica-
tion of the fruits of His Passion should hinge,
has to be realized. That condition is that His
ministers and the faithful labor and suffer, in
union with Him, for the sake of their fellow-
men. When these labors and sufferings are
in sufficient volume and intensity, the fruits



58 How Spiritual Force is Generated; or,

of salvation and of sanctity will be abundant
and far-flung; when they are meager or in-
sufficient, the fruits will register a corre-
sponding falling off.

We may therefore conclude that the more
contemplatives we have, and the more fervent
these contemplatives are in living their lives
of prayer and penance, the greater hope we
may entertain of winning our way into the
souls of our fellow countrymen and thus
spreading the kingdom of Christ. Further-
more, we must conclude that generous souls
who think of giving themselves to God in
contemplative orders should not be dissuaded
from putting their project into effect, on the
ground that they are entombing themselves
in a useless egotistic life far removed from
one’s fellows and incapable of doing them
any good. The reader has been able to judge
for himself that this accusation is unjusti-
fiable; as a matter of fact, the contrary, is the
case. Contemplatives are not indifferent or
unconcerned in regard to souls in the world;
rather they are much concerned about them.
Contemplatives of ancient and of modem
times have always been concerned for the
Church and souls. Witness the Little Flower.
She entered Carmel at the age of fifteen in
order, as she said, to save souls and above all
to pray for priests. In her zeal she wished to
be a missionary, to go over the whole world
in order to win souls for her Divine Master;
to be a missionary not only for a few years,
but she would have liked to be one from the
creation of the world, and to continue the
role till the end of time. St. Bernard is an
instance of an ancient contemplative who
burned with zeal for the welfare of the
Church and the salvation of souls. He left
the world and its riches in order to live alone
with God in the contemplative life. Obedi-
ence, however, drew him out of his solitude.
A role of the most varied activity was forced
upon him. He traveled up and down Europe
healing the schism, preaching the Second



The Apostolate of the Contemplatives 59

Crusade, pointing out and refuting heresy,
counseling popes and kings; yet retaining his
interior solitude in everything that he did.
Whenever the interests of the Church would
allow him, he was back at his monastery to
commune with his Lord. Contemplatives of
today live up to the same ideal. Their con-
cern is not a mere wish or empty desire; they
take means to give effect to their desires;
means that have been pronounced by the
Watchman of the Vatican the most efficacious
for repelling the greatest danger that has thus
far threatened both Church and state alike —
Atheistic Communism; means that will bring
down God’s blessing in abundance on those
working in the active ministry and on the
ministry itself.

God Alone
However, let no mistake be made. The

apostolic and social side of contemplative or-
ders is not their supreme justification. Great
as it undoubtedly is, we must be on our guard
against pushing it too far. It is not their ex-
clusive nor their principal end. Countless
religious institutes are at work in the Church
for apostolic work in all its aspects and for
the alleviation of every form of human
misery. But the contemplative orders’ pri-
mary and essential end is God Himself.
Necessarily and normally connected with this
is zeal for souls. Still this claims only the
second place. For Cistercians, their first
work, to which nothing is to be preferred, is
the “Work of God,” the liturgy. But the lit-
urgy, as Guardini tells us, does not exist for
the sake of humanity, but for the sake of God.
God-ward, then, does the contemplative’s ac-
tivity ever tend; his neighbor comes only in
the second place. Keeping this in mind, no
one will find fault with the words of a great
Benedictine monk, the late Bishop Hedley:
“Perhaps the less a monk thinks about con-
verting the world, and the more he thinks
about converting himself, the more likely will
it be that the world will be converted.”



Bibliography

Pope Pius XI. Encyclicals:
Rerum Ecclesiarum gestarum, Feb. 18,
1926

Miserentissimus Redemptor, May 8, 1928
Caritate Christi compulsi, May 3, 1932
Divini Redemptoris, March 19, 1937
Apostolic Constitution “Umbratilem,”
July 8, 1924

Aquinas, St. Thomas. On Prayer and the
Contemplative Life. Translated by H.
Pope, O.P.

Baker, Ven F. A. Holy Wisdom
Bernard, St. Treatise on the Love of God
Bernard, St. Sermons on the Canticle of

Canticles

Chautard, Dom. J. B. The Soul of the
Apostolate

Lehody, Dom Vital. A Spiritual Directory for
Religious

Lehody, Dom Vital. The Ways of Mental
Prayer

Marmion, Dom C. Christ the Ideal of the
Monk

Marmion, Dom C. Christ the Life of the Soul
McSorley, Joseph. The Contemplative Life
Plus, Raoul. La Reparation
Plus, Raoul. The Folly of the Cross
Plus, Raoul. Christ in Our Brethren
Saudreau, Canon A. Life of Union with God
Sheen, Msgr. F. J. Justice and Charity,

Part II

Religieux Chartreux. La Vie Contemplative

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