Contemplative Branch

To seek God alone.

The Institute Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará has both active missionaries and contemplative nuns.

“In likeness to the Word who chose to live in the silence of Nazareth for thirty years, some of our sisters consecrate themselves to Him in the contemplative state.”
— SSVM Directory of Spirituality, 93

Evangelization of the Culture

The Same Spirit and Charism

The members of the Contemplative Branches of our Religious Family are considered one of the keystones of the apostolic endeavor of our Institute. As such, they participate in our same spirit, as well as the proper and specific end of the Institute Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará.

By their life of prayer, penance and silence, they seek to prolong the Incarnation of Christ in the world through the evangelization of the culture.

“In the heart of the Church, I will be love.”

“Thanks to the prayer and the sacrifice of those who consecrate themselves to God in contemplative life, the Lord raises up preachers, confessors, spiritual directors, etc., who transmit the truth to men. We can truly say that others transmit what they contemplate.” — SSVM Directory of Spirituality, 220 “Our monasteries of contemplative life should be magnets of the grace of God and lightning rods for his wrath.” — SSVM Directory of Spirituality, 93

Magnets of God’s grace

Prayers and sacrifices offered

Currently we have 23 contemplative communities in 13 countries. These communities offer their lives of prayer and sacrifice:

1. For peace;
2. For the Church, the Holy Father and his intentions, for bishops and priests, for consecrated souls, for vocations, for missionary works, for ecumenism, for the Jewish people, for the persecuted members of the Church, for the final perseverance of the Church’s members, for the souls in Purgatory, for our religious family;
3. For the conversion of sinners, above all for consecrated souls and for those who persecute the Church;
4. For our country and its leaders;
5. For the promotion of human justice and other intentions that help establish the temporal order according to God’s law.

— SSVM Monastic Rule, 134

For women interested in discerning the contemplative life within our Institute, there is the possibility of visiting our contemplative community, sharing in moments of prayer, work, and community life with the sisters. For more information contact:

Mother Mary Our Lady of the Nativity, SSVM
Director of Contemplative Vocations

E-mail: m.nativity@servidoras.org
Tel: (301) 627-5337