Solitude and Redemption
“I have redeemed you. You are mine. ”
The mystery of Christian solitude is inseparable from the mystery of redemption. Rather than being a sort of isolation, solitude is fundamentally a radical communion with the God who saves, a communion made possible in and through Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church. True solitude is a response to God’s exclusive claim on the human person—not only as her Creator, but also as her Redeemer.
While all baptized Christians share in the mystery of solitude inasmuch as each has been purchased and at a price, the person consecrated by religious vows gives particular expression to God’s claim on the human soul. This is why Pope Saint John Paul II places the origin of a religious vocation in relation to the mystery of redemption:
“From the depth of the Redemption there comes Christ's call, and from that depth it reaches the human soul. By virtue of the grace of the Redemption, this saving call assumes, in the soul of the person called, the actual form of the profession of the evangelical counsels. In this form is contained your answer to the call of redeeming love, and it is also an answer of love: a love of self-giving, which is the heart of consecration, of the consecration of the person. The words of Isaiah—“I have redeemed you...you are mine”—seem to seal precisely this love, which is the love of a total and exclusive consecration to God.” (Redemptionis Donum)
You are mine! This covenant is given a particularly intense expression in the life of the cloistered nun, whose form of life embodies exclusive union with Christ, the Redeemer. Verbi Sponsa explains that “the Holy Spirit, who led Jesus into the desert (cf. Luke 4:1), invites the nun to share the solitude of Christ, who ‘with the eternal Spirit’ (Heb 9:14) offered himself to the Father.” This union is continually deepened by graced participation in the liturgy of the Church, especially the Holy Mass, where the nun unites herself to the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.
Importantly, the nun’s participation in the saving mysteries points to an even deeper reality beyond her individual relationship with Christ. Her spousal character heralds that primary spousal relationship that exists between Christ and the Church. As Saint Paul writes, Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. Therefore, while the nun is truly a bride of Christ and her solitude deeply spousal, she stands as a sign of a future, eschatological fulfillment. She seeks to live this mystery unto eternity through her silent and ceaseless acknowledgement that she exists solely for Him and the praise of His glory.
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