Separated from all, we are united to all for it is in the name of all that we present ourselves to the living God (Statutes 34.2)

Praise

The Carthusian did not choose solitude for its own sake, but because he saw in her an excellent means for him to attain a deeper union with God and all mankind. It is upon entering the recesses of his heart that the Carthusian solitudinarians becomes, in Christ, present to all men. He becomes a solitudinarians to attain solidarity. Contemplatives are at the heart of the Church. They accomplish an essential function in the ecclesiastical community: the glorification of God. Carthusians withdraw to the desert first and foremost to worship God, to praise him, to admire him, to be seduced by him, to give themselves to him, in the name of all of mankind. It is in the name of all that they are mandated by the Church to be a permanent prayer.

Intercession

Since the very beginning the Church recognizes that monks tied to contemplation act as intercessors. Representing all of creation, on a daily basis, at all the liturgical offices and during the Eucharistic celebration, they pray for all the living and the dead.

Witness

Turned, by our profession, solely toward He who is, we are witness in face of a world engrossed in the earthly realities that outside of Him there is no God. Our life shows that the good from heaven is already to be found on earth; it is a precursor of the resurrection and like an anticipation of a renewed world. (Statutes 34.3)

For the solitudinarians, being such a witness is not realized by speech, nor by personal contact. By his mere presence, the monk is a witness that God lives and can take over the hearts of men.

Penance

The ascetic life associated with the Carthusian as the work of Christ, for the salvation of man:

For our penance we take part in the redemptive role of Christ. He saved mankind, captive and burdened by sin, especially through his prayer to the Father, and by his death; by forcing ourselves to be associated with this most profound aspect of the redemption, and in spite of our apparent lack of outside activity, we exercise this apostolate in the most immediate way. (Statutes 34.4)