Monks do indeed withdraw from the world, but they do not completely shut themselves off from the care and needs of people. They experience the ups and downs of our world praying.
The monks maintain a deep solidarity with everything that lives. The Book of the World is the place where they stay in the presence of God. Close to things, they are close to the Creator of the things. Hence Saint Benedict says that all objects must be considered to be goods intended for worship: they are like traces of God in which the monks listen to his Word and which invite them to look after the whole of Creation.
