Perfectae
Caritatis, perfect love, is the name of the Second
Vatican Council’s Decree on the renewal of Religious Life. The Fundamental
Constitution at the beginning of the Constitutions for the Nuns of the Order of
Preachers (LCM) echos the words of this document, saying:
By their way of life
both the friars and the nuns press onward to that perfect love of God and
neighbour which is effective in caring for and obtaining the salvation of all
people. As the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of all, offered himself
completely for our salvation, they consider themselves to be truly his members
primarily when they are spending themselves totally for souls. (LCM § 1,2)
Monastic life, as any
Christian life, is basically and essentially about love. True love. Perfect
love.
The monasteries, as all other Christian communities and families, should
be little cells of charity, where this love is received from God, nourished and
brought to the world.
But the whole community, united as it is in the
love of the Lord, should become a radiant center of charity to all. (LCM § 14)
Contemplative
Community
In a fallen and
imperfect world, a life in perfect love requires openness to the grace of God
which works in us conversion and reconciliation, the will to give, ask for and
receive forgiveness. In a community of sisters with different backgrounds, from
different cultures, societies, generations and places, each with her own unique
personality, respect is required, so that each one can be allowed to be her
true self. At the same time, we must be attentive to maintain unity, and see
our differences as riches to be shared between us. Then we can become a sign
and a seed of communion, as we are called to be (cf. LCM § 2,2).
In order that each
monastery be a center of true communion, let all accept and cherish one another as
members of the same body, differing in native qualities and functions but
equal in the common bond of charity and profession. (LCM § 4,2)
Love is not simply an
emotional rush or pretending that the beloved is perfect. None of us are. In
the first, infatuated stage of a relationship – be it a romantic relationship,
a friendship, a community, a parish, a church – we have a tendency to idealize
and make ourselves believe that all about the other is pure perfection. It is
when we realize that this is not the case, and still find ourselves capable of
loving what is imperfect, those who are imperfect, it is then we grow into
mature love, the kind of love we are called to love with, God’s own love – God,
who makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and on the unrighteous (Mt. 5:45). God does not love us because
we are loveable – we are loveable because God loves us!
To develop a contemplative way of seeing is learning to
see as God sees. It means learning to see the world through the eyes of God and
see our neighbours as God sees them – God who so loved them that he sent his
only Son into the world, and through the self-gift of the Son revealed his love
among us (cf. 1 John 4:9 – 10). This contemplative seeing does not let
another’s faults or imperfections overshadow and get in the way of his or her
beauty, dignity, positive sides, gifts and advantages.
The contemplative gaze is the gaze of Jesus, looking
at the crowds and being moved to compassion. After the example of Jesus, we
find it in Saint Dominic, as he is moved to pity with the famished people of
Palencia and sells his books to help them, or in his ardent desire for the
salvation of all. Saint Catherine of Siena was given to participate in it, and
was so captured by the beauty of the souls of people around her that she told
Raymond of Capua that if he could only see what she saw, she was convinced he
would give his life a hundred times over to save even just one of these souls.
Montesinos and Las Casas, two other Dominicans, saw the dignity of the native
inhabitants in South America in a way most at their time did not, and protested
vehemently against the way these were treated.
Love
and Truth
Now that you have
purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine
mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of
imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:22 – 23)
The encounter with the
truth of God’s word reveals to me the imperfections existing also in me, and if
I am willing, I am brought to understand that I cannot and should not judge
anyone. I am liberated to join the community of those who understand that love
is not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us (1 John 4:10), and
that God is the source from which I must draw love, both for myself and for
others. If I come to understand that God loves me in my imperfection, I also
understand that I am called to love others in their imperfection. If I learn to
love the imperfect, I can also learn to love myself in the appropriate way,
with the love of God, imperfect as I am.
The
Temple of the Spirit
Like the Church of the Apostles, our communion is founded, built up and made firm
in the one Spirit. (LCM § 3,1)
God is the one who calls
us together to live in community. It is the common quest for God that unites
us. And the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit that has been given to us (Rm. 5:5). God himself creates unity, by the
Spirit, God who is in his holy dwelling and who makes a home for the lonely
(Ps. 68 (67):5 – 6). And the dwelling of God is not just the church or the
monastery itself, it is each one of us:
Let all of you then live
together in oneness of mind and heart, mutually honouring God in yourselves, whose temples you have
become. (The Rule of St. Augustine 9)
We can pray, then, every
time we see a sister:
Because
you are the house of the Lord, I will seek your good. (Cf. Ps. 122 (121):9)
This is the love we are
called to radiate to others and to love others with, not just our sisters in
community, but all people. The monastery is not supposed to be a cosy club
closed in on itself, where we love one another but keep this love for ourselves
within the monastery walls. The whole of humanity is to be embraced by it, so
that the joy of all may be complete.
Jesus said to his
disciples:
"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love.
If you keep my
commandments,
you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this
so
that my own joy may be in you
and your joy be complete.
This is my commandment:
love one another as I
love you."
(John 15:9 – 12)