«Why are we in the Charterhouse? With steps specific to each, we all followed the same path. We took the risk of giving up everything: family, friends, a profession, leisure, various commitments… Why?
For a life we find pleasant, thanks be to God. But at the same time, we feel a thirst. And little by little, we discover that prayer can soothe this thirst…
So it was for God that we were drawn here to thirst. We were looking for God and he was looking for us. He wanted to meet us. He drew us to solitude and made us understand that this was our way to go to him. In silence we listen to Jesus in his Gospel: “When you pray, retreat to your room, close the door on yourself and pray to your Father who is there in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will return to you” (Mt 6,6). We try to unite our will with that of Jesus for us. He makes us feel weakly what a meeting with him could be like. “Remain in me as I remain in you” (Jn 15,4). He opens us more and more to his love … until the day we receive from him the impulse to give him everything.
Give everything to him? How?
His Providence made us aware of the existence of Carthusian nuns. The little we knew of them seemed to correspond to the desire for solitude put into our hearts by the Lord. So, we asked to do a test of their life in their monastery. There we discovered other women solitaries. Each lived in a small house, with a garden, but their houses were connected by a cloister leading to the church. The meetings of the nuns were held mostly in the church. The share of community life was greater on Sundays and holidays.
« The Spirit drives Jesus into the desert” (Mk 1,12). The Spirit drives us to advance for a long time in the desert of a Charterhouse … and then stay there forever.
The desert: solitude, silence, peace and struggle, joy and aridity … everything can be a means to union with the Crucified-Resurrected Lord, as he gradually frees our hearts from what is not love. Our solitary life is also fraternal life: through Christ and in him, we are in communion with each other. This communion extends to the Church and to all our brethren in the world.».
If you would like to take a first glimpse of our life, we invite you to visit our website and in the resources section, under books-DVD, to view a film revealing to you how God, in solitude and silence, can form a happy band of women, who exist solely for His glory.
To learn more about the Carthusian nuns, please visit chartreux.org
