For various reasons the contemplative life has become more difficult today. The great ease in communication through numberless and marvelous inventions results in our living in a state of perpetual external agitation, taken up with discussions, meetings, journeys, business anxieties and a thousand other things which draw us away from the interior life. Newspapers, radio and television penetrate everywhere, and so transform the conditions of private and family life, that it is difficult to find time and place for solitude, silence and contemplation. Comforts, opportunities for pleasure and the ever-growing multiplicity of material goods attract men and women so strongly as to make them slaves rather than masters of these things.

    The result of all this is that it is almost impossible to cultivate an interior and contemplative life. Prayer, meditation, pondering, reflection and contemplation have become extremely difficult. There is neither time nor place for them and the very disposition of mind and heart which would be concerned with these activities is missing. The consequence is that they are easily treated as of little value. And so the life of prayer, meditation, contemplation and union with God is lost sight of, becomes weaker and gradually fades away.

    So it follows that this multiplication of material goods which was to render people more perfect and more happy, had they been used according to God's purpose, in fact renders them more degraded and more unhappy.

It is obvious to the eyes of Christian faith that the contemplative life whereby one completely dedicates oneself to God, leaving aside, as far as human frailty allows, the business and the cares of this world is an outstanding gift of grace. For faith teaches the singular excellence of that form of life in which one can devote oneself without hindrance to praising God, to begging unceasingly for the graces necessary for the salvation of the world, to acquiring the true purity of conscience, to raising the hearts of all to heavenly things, to imitating Christ more perfectly and sharing his life more abundantly, to conversing with the Blessed Trinity dwelling in the sanctuary of the soul, cleaving to the Divine Persons by faith, hope and charity, and finally, to the embracing of everyone in the heart of Christ.

    It is therefore most necessary to discern and foster the contemplative vocation of the faithful, who, in a spirit of deep humility and complete self-denial, in silence, solitude and peace, will devote themselves to hearing and contemplating the Word of God as the Blessed Virgin Mary did and will be docile to the impulses and inspirations of the Holy Spirit. In so doing they are supremely conducive to the true progress, peace and happiness of the whole world, especially that future happiness to which we will make the whole human family a true fraternity.

It is not surprising that the Vatican Council should declare that:

1) the contemplative life belongs to the fullness of the Church (Ad Gentes, n. 18);

2) the Church is essentially contemplative (Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 2);

3) all activity in the Church is ordained to contemplation and subordinate to it (Ibid.);

4) The contemplative attitude which is eminently present in the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lk. 2:19, 51) pertains to the whole Church which through it penetrates ever more deeply into the riches of the Word of God (Dei Verbum, n.8).

    The specific mission of the contemplative vocation, then, is to undertake, cherish and promote; what is most deep in the life of the Church. Hence, Dominican nuns should have a clear realization that in virtue of their profession they are completely consecrated to the Church and called to bring about the extension of the kingdom of God in the world, by means which are hidden indeed but nevertheless possess a wonderful efficacy.

The Dominican family has a certain global unity analogous to that of the universal Church. The integral purpose of the Order, that is, to give to others the fruits of contemplation, cannot be attained in that fullness proper to its except through the cooperation of all the members of the family. In this the particular role of the Dominican nuns plays the highest part, and is therefore of the greatest importance.

    Hence, the contemplative life of the nuns is of the greatest benefit to the apostolate of the Order, not only because, like other contemplatives, they offer their prayers and their life to God on behalf of the apostolic needs of the Church, but also because their contemplation and their life, inasmuch as they are truly and properly Dominican, are from the beginning and by their very nature ordered to the apostolate which the Dominican family exercises as a whole, and in which alone the fullness of the Dominican vocation is to be found.

    Consequently, it is of the greatest concern to the entire Dominican family that this its noblest part, constituted by the nuns, should be preserved, should increase and flourish.

    Beloved Sisters, I urge you to ponder over and appreciate the dignity, nobility and beauty, the importance and excellence of your Dominican vocation. Not only evil and indifference, but mediocrity as well should be completely excluded from so lofty a calling. Seriously consider also how great is your responsibility, not only because of the many and wonderful gifts you have received from God for your own sanctification and salvation, but also because of your duty to bring forth all these for the benefit of the Church and the spread of Go's kingdom in the world, thereby cooperating with the brethren in the way that is proper to you.

    This responsibility should not inspire fear but rather be a source of joy; it should reinforce your courage and add a new stimulus to more perfect fidelity in the following of your contemplative vocation. So you will be able to demonstrate in a concrete way that we must "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Mt. 6:33) and that to those who leave all things for the love of God, all things are added (Ibid.); and finally, that the supreme good of all is to know God the Father and Jesus Christ whom he sent (Jn 17:3), to be totally consecrated to him and serve him alone.

    It is clear then that your life, although free from involvement in worldly affairs, is far from useless. On the contrary, it is of such value to the Church and to society at large as to be indispensable and therefore should be held in the greatest esteem and promoted by all the brethren.

    The sure way of following your vocation and the best means of achieving its sublime purpose consists in joyfully and lovingly accepting these new Constitutions, in meditating on them and loving them and fulfilling them in a spirit of faith, hope, and charity.

    May the blessing of our holy father Saint Dominic descend upon you all in abundance.

___________________________

Given at Tallaght, during the General Chapter
of the Brothers of the Order of Preachers,
the 22nd day of the month of July,
the feast of Saint Mary Magdalen,
in the Year of the Lord, 1971.