for it is stated that
"they are not considered to be separated from the fellowship of
monks": and the same would seem to apply to all other religious. Now
the monastic rule was established for the purpose of the
contemplative life; wherefore Jerome says (Ep. lviii ad Paulin.): "If
you wish to be what you are called, a monk," i.e. a solitary, "what
business have you in a city?" The same is found stated in Extra, De
Renuntiatione, cap. Nisi cum pridem; and De Regular., cap. Licet
quibusdam. Therefore it would seem that every religious order is
directed to the contemplative life, and none to the active life.

Obj. 3: Further, the active life is concerned with the present world.
Now all religious are said to renounce the world; wherefore Gregory
says (Hom. xx in Ezech.): "He who renounces this world, and does all
the good he can, is like one who has gone out of Egypt and offers
sacrifice in the wilderness." Therefore it would seem that no
religious order can be directed to the active life.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (James 1:27): "Religion clean and
undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless
and widows in their tribulation." Now this belongs to the active
life. Therefore religious life can be fittingly directed to the
active life.

_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 1), the religious state is
directed to the perfection of charity, which extends to the love of
God and of our neighbor. Now the contemplative life which seeks to
devote itself to God alone belongs directly to the love of God, while
the active life, which ministers to our neighbor's needs, belongs
directly to the love of one's neighbor. And just as out of charity we
love our neighbor for God's sake, so the services we render our
neighbor redound to God, according to Matt. 25:40, "What you have
done [Vulg.: 'As long as you did it'] to one of these My least
brethren, you did it to Me." Consequently those services which we
render our neighbor, in so far as we refer them to God, are described
as sacrifices, according to Heb. 13:16, "Do not forget to do good and
to impart, for by such sacrifices God's favor is obtained." And since
it belongs properly to religion to offer sacrifice to God, as stated
above (Q. 81, A. 1, ad 1; A. 4, ad 1), it follows that certain
religious orders are fittingly directed to the works of the active
life. Wherefore in the Conferences of the Fathers (Coll. xiv, 4) the
Abbot Nesteros in distinguishing th