This excellent monastic practice, by which God's Word is heard and pondered, is a source of prayer and a school of contemplation, where the nun speaks heart to heart with God. Through God's Word the nuns are trained in a discipline of heart and action to be responsive to the Holy Spirit and so attain purity of heart and a continual mindfulness of God's presence. By constantly cultivating mindfulness of God, the sisters extend the Work of God throughout the whole day. In a spirit of compunction and intense desire, nuns devote themselves frequently to prayer. While dwelling on earth, their minds are occupied with heavenly things, desiring eternal life with all spiritual longing.
Silence is counted among the principal monastic values of the Order.
It assures solitude for the nun in community. It opens the mind to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit and favors attentiveness of heart and solitary prayer to God. The quietness of mind cultivated by silence is also the fruit of purity and simplicity of heart. Work Work, especially manual work, has always enjoyed special esteem in the Cistercian tradition since it gives the nuns the opportunity of sharing in the divine work of creation and restoration, and of following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. This hard and redeeming work is a means of providing a livelihood for the sisters and for other people, especially the poor.