Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil.4:8With Dominican Contemplative Nuns, Study is not just something that you do during Initial Formation or the Novitiate years. It is one of our major observances which is intended to be a life long pursuit. One of the main goals of the classes and guided study during the novitiate years is to make study part of the very rhythm of the life of the young Dominican. Just as each day time is allowed for praying, eating, sleeping, working, playing, so too a portion of the regular routine is devoted to study.
Our study is not geared to acquiring degrees or becoming well
educated women. It is all intended to open us to the contemplation of God and His ways. How is that?
When one studies theology or any truth, it is like putting on glasses to bring into sharper focus the various aspects of the Beloved whom we contemplate in prayer. Knowing the Beloved is different than knowing about Him. Yet the more I can learn about Him - what He is, what He is like, what He does, how He enters into relationships with His creatures, how He operates in His creation - the better I come to really know Him, understand Him, relate to Him. As I listen in theology and drink in what He wants to reveal of Himself to me, I can then reflect back to Him in prayer that knowledge of Himself in which He takes pleasure. At the same time contemplation increases the yearning to know more about the One I love. And so it is like a tennis match in which prayer sends me into study and study returns me to prayer.
The tradition of study for us contemplative Dominicans goes back to Dominic himself who recommended some form of study to the first nuns of his Order. Each individual needs to honestly evaluate her capacity and use the intellectual gifts which God has given her, to study at the level and to the extent that she is able. This observance of study prepares her with a background of information for understanding the Scriptures, thus laying the groundwork for her daily encounter with the word of God in Lectio Divina. As she gradually deepens her understanding of God and His ways and works, and of herself in relation to Him and to all of creation, she grows in human maturity thus fulfilling God's purpose in creating her.
As a form of penance, study is a choice type of asceticism. At times when the material is rather abstract or uninteresting, the beautiful weather and the colors, smells, and sounds of nature can call one almost irresistibly outdoors. Then there are projects, plans and more productive types of work which beckon to the student. On some days it may seem that I need to chain myself to the chair to complete the period of study. But the self- discipline required in the resisting of these temptations to abandon even temporarily the serious study, makes one grow in human maturity, builds character, and strengthens one against other temptations to be less than faithful in our life.
Serious study also has the capability of stretching the mind and broadening one's perspective. It is possible to develop a very narrow outlook when living the cloistered life. One's intellectual view, if not expanded by ongoing study, can become an extremely conservative, fearful, even suspicious stance. Opening up the mind to other opinions and theories, and having enough training to evaluate them honestly in the light of truth, helps to make a person open to the many possible differences in personalities, thereby making it much easier to make the allowances demanded by charity in daily life.
Although religious studies of some kind are the primary area for our efforts, our study is not exclusively in the field of theology or scripture. From time to time we will explore a field such as art, music, poetry, language, history, or practical sciences. Anything that can teach us about beauty, goodness, or truth will help us to understand God and His ways with His people.
Studying God in Himself and in His activity in relation to creatures brings one to know more deeply the One contemplated in prayer. When a person loves, he or she wants to know more and more about the Beloved. And as one comes to know more about Him, love grows deeper and the desire for contemplation stronger. The relationship thus developed is the real end and purpose of all the observances of religious life.