To be in the active life, one is in the world and doing things. Nuns and monks in the contemplative life do things as well. In fact, some monasteries are very, very busy with guests, book-stores, gift-shops, retreats, seminaries, tours, classes etc. Some are, frankly, too active and the contemplative life suffers.
In the real contemplative orders, silence is a necessity for spiritual growth. This would be found in the extreme with the Carthusians and in a lesser, but still pronounced form in the Cistercians. Silence has been written about by many authors and one can look at the rich group of books concerning the importance of silence and the interior life.
In the active life, such as that of the lay person or the active orders which teach, nurse or whatever, the action they do purifies them and makes them perfect. That is the call. Martha is a saint, just as Mary is.
Works of mercy and hospitality in the Benedictine orders sometimes take over the contemplative side. Benedictine orders with schools have had a particular challenge, or, as in America and England, where the Benedictines by necessity had to go into parishes for centuries to help bishops by request, the need to be active is obvious. I have met at least one monk who did not want to take over a Benedictine parish, but was asked to by his abbot, as the bishop needed a monk-priest there. He suffered being outside the community.
On the other hand, I also know a monk-priest, who on retiring after many years in a parish, missed his people and had a hard time adjusting back to community life in the monastery. Such as the dangers of the active life for the monk-priest.
Nuns can experience similar trials if they have guest houses. Part of the problem is that the orders have shrunk in numbers. Imagine, some of the Cistercian houses in the Middle Ages had 700 monks and lay brothers. Amazing. What kind of ministries these orders fulfilled is the stuff of history.
I believe that there are contemplatives in the lay life. I consider myself one. I spend hours in silence daily, with a rhythm of prayer and work. This is what I see is my vocation. Does not bring in the money, however, but writing, researching, praying, do manual labour forms my day. The overlap of work and prayer needs to be protected by a stability I have not yet found. God willing.
The stability of the orders is not merely to perfect the Rule of Benedict but to form a stable, secure background for the intensity of the monastic life. It is intense.
The orders which are suffering from low numbers have a great challenge of meeting all the needs of the community and the ministries.
But, Suarez points out that this blanket separation of active and contemplative is not the best. He refers to Jesus, who spent His nights in prayer and was very active healing, preaching, teaching in the daytime.
Laity can enter into this type of life and I believe many of us are called to perfect our souls, hearts, and minds in such a balance.
How? Suarez is brilliant in his understanding of Christ's rebuke of Martha. Suarez states this: Mary represents the better PART of the life which is both active and contemplative. WOW!
It is not an either/or but a both/and...Martha and Mary represent people who loved Christ because they knew how to both be active and contemplative. Both are saints. Mary's part in the scene is the higher role, but we must DO BOTH. Martha need not complain, as she has access to both worlds, as does Mary and the point is there is time and place for both. With Christ in the room, sit down, and listen, and absorb the love. Be with the Bridegroom and do not let anxiety take away the peace of contemplation. I have seen this in women who do not stop to enjoy the love of their husbands and must be too busy, instead of just being.
Before I read Suarez, I did not think of this, nor have I heard a sermon on such. This idea make Garrigou-Lagrange's call of perfection for the laity all the more understandable.
