Last posts on silence

Silence

2008-06-19T13:08:57+02:00

In the silence you can hear things you otherwise cannot. Remember this when you feel alone, that you would listen to the silence. Only when you are alone, you can fully connect to yourself, and discover what you feel, and what you want. This may be a hard lesson, which is why loneliness can be so painful, but know that the lesson does not last forever, and you will become a wiser person from this lesson if only you learn from it. When you are alone, you are alone with God.

Into Great Silence

2007-04-06T20:31:40+02:00

Antony saw the new (in the U.S.) movie, Into Great Silence by Philip Groening, about life in a Carthusian monastery, and responds to it:

"This film made me want to live closer to the land, to the seasons. It made me want to grow flowers and vegetables.

"This film made me want to simplify my life in every regard. I think I'll start with my diet.

"This film made me want to be a Carthusian."

I hope it shows around here soon.

Silence and Receptivity

2007-03-25T22:21:44+02:00

"That which is truly great grows unnoticed, and silence at the right moment is more fruitful than the constant activity that only too easily degenerates into spiritual idleness. In the present age, we are all possessed by a strange restlessness that suspects any silence of being a waste of time and any kind of repose as being negligence. … Even in the religious sphere we tend to expect and hope for everything from our own activity. We use all kinds of exercises and involvements to evade the real mystery of interior growth before God. And yet in the religious sphere receptivity is at least as important as activity." -- Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI)

Gil Bailie quotes this to say that it almost perfectly sums up the 'fundamental religious attitude' of his beloved wife Liz, who died in February. It reflects an important part of my religious (that is: life) attitude, too.

(Photo taken by me at Longwood Gardens, PA)