Introduction
The Institute of the Incarnate Word is not only formed by religious living an apostolic life, but also of members who live out the charism through a contemplative life. As our Constitutions state, “Just as the Word chose to live in the silence of Nazareth for thirty years, some of our members consecrate themselves to Him in the contemplative state.” Thus, the monks of the Institute of the Incarnate Word “desire to dedicate themselves to the only necessary thing; they have chosen the best part (Cf. Lk 10:41).
In a real way our contemplatives are on the front lines of all the Institute’s apostolic works, since with their prayer life and penance, they obtain from the Lord the necessary graces for the salvation of many souls. This conviction is taken from the following words of the Magisterium (Ad Gentes) “Institutes of contemplative life, by their prayers and trials, are of the greatest importance in the conversion of souls since it is in answer to prayer that God sends workers into His harvest, opens the minds of non-Christians to hear the Gospel, and makes fruitful the word of salvation in their hearts.”
Our monasteries of contemplative life should be magnets of God’s grace and lightning rods for His wrath. God willing, we will be able to multiply them all over the world! “The Church and the world… need… a small ideal society where as a goal all the following reign: love, obedience, innocence, freedom from things and the art of its good use, the prevalence of the spirit, peace, – in a word – the Gospel,” said Blessed Paul VI in Discourse to contemplatives in 1964.