On the island of Santorini in Greece, tourists crowd souvenir shops. Couples chase the perfect Instagram sunset outside the Monastery of St. Catherine. But there’s something these visitors don’t know.

Inside the monastery, 13 nuns are praying for them.

The Monastery of St. Catherine is a convent. That’s a place where nuns live. It sits just steps from Santorini’s world-famous volcanic cliffs.

Many nuns help people. Some teach. Others serve the sick. Some help migrants get what they need. But these Santorini nuns do something simpler: They pray. They live mostly in silence and meditation. They have given their lives to prayer for tourists, citizens, and the world.

“In such a touristy island, the last thing one thinks about is praying—so we are the ones who do it,” says Sister Lucía María de Fátima.

The Reverend Félix del Valle, a Spanish priest, leads spiritual exercises at the convent. “In a world of consumption, of diversions, they give witness that God alone is enough,” he says.

St. Catherine’s nuns came to Santorini mostly from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo). Others came from Angola, Korea, Argentina, Greece, and Spain. When not praying or practicing music and hymns, the sisters (nuns) do housework. They grow tomatoes, lemons, and grapes in the garden. They also make communion wafers for most of the Catholic churches in Greece.

Are you “constant in prayer”? (Romans 12:12) You don’t have to be a nun for that. God calls every one of His people to pray. You can follow the sisters’ example and pray even for strangers!

Pray without ceasing. — 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Why? The world has many needs. God wants us to pray to Him about any of it. We can even pray for strangers!