What do nuns do?
Two paths, one same surrender: active life and contemplative life
When someone asks “what do nuns do?”, the most honest answer would be:
“they love, serve, and pray for the world”.
But behind those three words there is a whole life of devotion.
Some do it in silence, within walls, and others in the midst of the noise of the world.
Both forms are two faces of the same love: Christ.
"> “Nuns are the feminine face of a Church that prays, serves, and loves.”
Cloistered nuns: the hidden heart that sustains everyone
They are the contemplative nuns, those who live “hidden with Christ in God.”
From the silence of their monasteries, they pray for everyone, for believers and nonbelievers, for those who suffer, for those who love, for the whole world.
This is how their day beats
Their life is marked by a serene, steady rhythm:
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Personal prayer from dawn.
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Eucharist as the center of everything.
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Manual work: gardening, sewing, sweets, icons…
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Silence, which is not emptiness but an encounter with God.
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Spiritual reading and moments of community.
“Silence does not separate them from the world; it unites them to it from within.”
Although they live in enclosure, they are not disconnected.
They welcome visitors in the parlor, pray for concrete intentions, and some make products they sell to support their community.
In a world that runs, they stop so that love can keep breathing.
Active-life nuns: the visible hands of the Gospel
While contemplatives pray in silence, the active-life nuns go out to meet the world.
They are the ones who teach, care, accompany, heal and evangelize.
Their prayer becomes action, their enclosure is the heart of the neighbor.
You will find them:
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In schools and universities, forming minds and hearts.
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In hospitals, tending the sick with tenderness.
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In humble neighborhoods, sharing life with the poorest.
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In distant missions, proclaiming Christ with a smile.
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In parishes, accompanying groups, youth, families, the elderly.
“While some pray for the world, others embrace it with their hands. But both love it with the same love.”
Two paths, one same love
Although they live in different ways, all nuns have the same mission:
to follow Christ more closely and make his love present.
Some do so from contemplation; others, from action.
But both are invisible pillars that support the body of the Church.
“If the Church is a body, cloistered nuns are the heart that prays,
and active-life nuns are the hands that serve.”
Contemplatives remind us that God is the center.
The active remind us that God’s love is translated into works.
And together they teach us that faith cannot be understood without prayer or charity.
💬 Why choose a life like this?
Because in a world that seeks success, they choose to give their lives.
In a time of noise, they choose silence or service.
And in a society that runs without direction, they stop to look at Christ.
Being a nun —whether cloistered or active— is a vocation of radical love:
a total “yes” to God, a lifelong commitment to the Gospel.
“It doesn’t matter if they pray or teach, if they cook or go on missions:
everything in them shouts that God is worth a whole life.”
Two styles, one same melody
In monasteries or on the streets,
in silence or among the shouts of the world,
nuns remain witnesses that God is alive.
And while the world runs seeking meaning,
they —with prayer or action— remind us of the deepest secret:
happiness lies in giving oneself completely.