Enclosure provides a place for us to live more intimately in the presence of God.   St. John Cassian speaks of purity of heart as the goal of the monastic life.  The aim of the enclosure is to foster a purity of heart. Our hearts are united with the whole of creation and our brothers and sisters throughout the world in an embrace of love and compassion.  Monastery enclosure is a powerful means of rooting our lives in God. We freely and joyfully choose to live within this enclosed space, so that we can focus our hearts on God and the search for him.

“Through their contemplative life, nuns perpetuate in the Church the presence and the work of Mary. Welcoming the Word in faith and adoring silence, they put themselves at the service of the mystery of the Incarnation, and united to Christ Jesus in his offering of himself to the Father, they become co-workers in the mystery of Redemption.   Just as in the Upper Room, Mary in her heart, with her prayerful presence, watched over the origins of the Church, so too the Church’s journey is entrusted to the loving heart and praying hands of cloistered nuns.”

Verbi  Sponsa