The Universal Call to Contemplation

The contemplative life is not limited to nuns and monks.

It is the call God makes to all of us. It is challenging, like every relationship, but it is rewarding, the most rewarding activity that we can experience, for it leads us into the presence of God.

We hope to share with you some thoughts and suggestions that will attract you to prayer and contemplation if you are not already drawn to it.

We also ask you to share with us and with others your own experiences, both encouraging and challenging. Many people feel alone when they try to pray. Hopefully, you will find here that you are not alone. Many people down through the ages into our own time have accepted God’s whispered invitation to “come and see”. We hope that you will be one of them.

—Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.

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“Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity.”
— Lumen Gen. V, 40
A Carmelite nun sits on a balcony in the cloister as she prays.

Thoughts From God’s Garden

A Monthly Pondering from Sr. Gabriela

Not All Art Is in Museums

            There is a saying: One who works with his hands is a laborer; one who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; one who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.

            We don’t often realize that we can make a work of art of everything that we do when we do it with all our heart. Washing dishes, filing library books, setting out a legal brief, adding up a list of numbers, changing the oil on a car. All these actions will never see their results enshrined in a glass case in a museum, yet they can all be works of art. They can all deserve their glass shrine where they can be admired because of the love that we put into them. All that is needed is to remember that what I do touches people’s lives. Everything I do can enhance the world we all live in, even if it is only for 1 square foot. Everything I do can share in God’s recreation of the universe.

            When I remember this, if I listen closely, I will perceive how much “all creation looks forward eagerly to the revelation of the children of God.” Then I will hear the jubilation of the created world because I have helped redeem it.

“Behold, the Lord invites all. Since He is truth itself, there is no reason to doubt. If this invitation were not a general one, the Lord wouldn’t have called us all, and even if He called all, He wouldn’t have promised, ‘I will give you to drink’.”
— St. Teresa of Jesus