IN PRAISE OF CONTEMPLATIVE COMMUNITIES: A TASTE OF THE BLISS TO WHICH THESE CHOSEN SOULS ARE CALLED

Eugene records in his journal a visit he made to a convent of contemplative sisters, whose lives are spent in silence and prayer. He experienced something of the presence of God in  these women who pray constantly for the world and its needs.

April 22: Annual visit to the first Visitation Monastery. I finished it that day. I cannot express how much I was edified by this visit. It is really wonderful to see the unity, the peace that reigns in this house of God…

How to explain the happiness that all these holy women enjoy, and which makes them prefer their status to anything more attractive that the world could offer? It is not possible to attribute this to anything other than the anointing of grace, the communication of the Spirit of God. This is something that strikes me more and more and that shows well the constant action of Providence on his creatures.

It is a supernatural state, miraculous; it is a light, a heavenly emanation, a taste of the bliss to which these chosen souls are called, these privileged souls who enjoy this happiness…

Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 22 April 1839, EO XX

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