sphere, their further differences. The monastic Orders, strictly so-called, are contemplative; but some maintain the strictest enclosure, like the Carthusians; while others, like the Benedictines, perform a multitude of ministries in the world.

Also among those who live the Mixed Life, there are many differences. The greatest differentiation, perhaps, in this class is that which constitutes certain of them as Mendicants. In order to maintain this character, Religious must be occupied in ministries to their neighbour, and must also be incapable of possessing any properties either individually or in common. They minister to the external needs of the Church, and live on the alms of the faithful. The properties they administer, and on which they live, according to the letter of their constitutions, are not theirs, although in most countries at present the refusal of the civil law to recognize the binding force of religious constitutions, compels them to maintain an actual legal possession. Morally, however, and according to the religious Rule by which they are bound, they are incapable of such holdings. Some Mendicants allow the possession in common of movable goods.1

II. Of Varieties of Religion as Ordained
by the Holy Spirit

"There are differences of administration, but the same Spirit." This apostolic teaching declares the principle that underlies the varieties of Religious Life as lived in the Church. In the kingdom of God there are many divinely appointed activities. There is a

1 Gautrelet, op. cit., Vol. i, p. 204.

division of labour, one soul being called to this work, another to that. So also is it with the various corporate agencies that God sets in the Kingdom. As the individual has his vocation, so has the community. Each has its own work set for it in the sphere appointed by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore it must be understood that the varieties of Religious communities found in the Church are not the result of man's caprice. They are of divine ordinance according to the principle laid down repeatedly in Holy Scripture; as St. Paul teaches : "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers' and all these labour towards the same end,-that is to say, "for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ."1

Therefore, just as we have seen in a former chapter that the Religious Life itself is not of human, or even of ecclesiastical, but of divine, institution, so it is with the varieties of Religious Life as they are found in the Church. The principle underlying their existence and their nature is one the Holy Spirit Himself ordains.

III. Of the Essence Common to the Various Forms of Religion

Whatever varieties of Religious Life there may be in the Church, the differences lie in things which are accidental only. In their essence and substance all forms of Religious Life are the same. This substance 1 Ephesians iv. 11-12.

consists in two things: (1) in seeking the perfection of charity towards God and towards one's neighbour; and (2) in effecting the permanence of this aim by means of perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and the making a donation of oneself to a Religious community which stands as God's representative to see that the obligation is fulfilled.

The end of all forms of Religion is therefore the same, and the diversities exist only in respect to the means and observances employed to attain the end.

The proximate aim is the perfect fulfilment of the precepts. The counsels are ordained in order to secure the keeping of the precepts, and the vows are ordained in order that the counsels may be kept. All this has for its final purpose the glory of God in the life of perfect union with Him by means of love.

The above statements represent, therefore, that which is common to every form of Religious Life. Indeed, unless these aims and principles appear in the life and work of a community, it cannot be said to embrace the Religious Life in any true sense. All communities are bound to seek the glory of God by means of the perfection of their members. All are bound to seek this end by labouring for and tending towards perfection. All live under the perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the exact mode of their life being determined by a Rule according to which all their members promise to shape their lives.

These are the common grounds upon which all Religious Communities exist, nor can they depart

from any one of these without forfeiting their essential nature as Religious.

IV. Of the Contemplative Life

By contemplation is meant that interior consideration of God and of the knowledge of God that bears fruit in the will and raises the mind to God in such a way as to unite the soul to Him.

The Contemplative Life is that which is devoted essentially to prayer and the contemplation of divine truth. Everything else that may enter into such a life is contributory to this end. Contemplative Religious may engage in certain occupations within their own walls by which they may contribute to their livelihood, they may take part in the ordinary care of the monastery and its precincts, or may even be devoted to ministries outside their enclosure; but all this work is incidental, and is done only in order to secure the conditions best suited to foster their continual work of prayer.

The actual work of prayer is accomplished according to the provisions made for itself by each community. In contemplative communities more attention is paid to the rendering of the Divine Office, longer hours are afforded for meditation, and often periods for continuous intercession, prayer, and adoration are set, the members in some communities alternating by an arrangement that secures an unbroken work of prayer during the entire twenty-four hours of the day.1

1 One of the earliest known instances of such community prayer is that in the Convent presided over by St. Macrina, St. Basil's sister.

The amount of such work depends largely on the number and general strength of the community, for it is recognized that steady attentive prayer is difficult, both physically and mentally, and a wise Superior will apportion it accordingly. Naturally, where it is possible, this work of prayer is done in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and often it assumes the definite form of perpetual adoration of the Incarnate God present on our altars under the sacramental forms.

It is an instinct natural to man to withdraw from the distractions necessarily incident to ordinary human intercourse, when he wishes to pray. Our Lord withdrew into a mountain for His all-night vigils, and in Gethsemane He retired apart from His disciples to pray. Following this instinct, those who lead such a life of prayer ordinarily do not leave the monastic enclosure. Hence it is often spoken of as the "Enclosed" or "Cloistered " Life. The Christian idea of the Cloistered Religious goes back to St. Anna, the prophetess. St. Luke tells us that "She was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers, night and day.”1

In considering the Contemplative Life we must dismiss the notion, not uncommon in the world, that it necessarily involves the extraordinary experiences which we read of in the lives of certain Saints, and St. Gregory Nyssa, in his Life of her, says there was no time by day or night when the work of prayer and the chanting of the Psalter stopped. See St. Gregory Nyssa, De Vita S. Macrinae. Migne, P. G., Tom. xlvi, col. 969.

1 St. Luke ii. 37.