What would a Contemplative/Active life look like?
As an artist contemplates a work of art, then splashes colors on the mat, sculpts the clay, or pens notes on a musical score, so contemplation and action are not separate, but rather two movements of the spiritual life. As the mightiest waterfall has its source in a tiny mountain spring, so the greatest positive action originates in contemplation. The goal of the spiritual life is balancing silence and speech, action and contemplation. The two sisters become friends: Mary’s gift of interior listening at the feet of Jesus, and Martha’s gift of the exterior hospitality of food and lodging. We provide lodging for the Word in our hearts in order to welcome the Word into the world in the least of our brothers and sisters, in the poor and the poor in spirit.
