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13th December
Peter Damian Belisle, The Language of Silence: The Changing Face of Monastic Solitude (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2003), 18.
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'Perhaps at first reckoning, we might consider silence merely the absence of sound. But silence is not something that begins only when sound ends. There is something awesome and breathtaking about real silence; it is numinous, pulling us out of our self-containment and calling us towards the invisible. Religions seekers "home in" on silence as homing pigeons return to their roost, because therein lies the language for personal communication with the sacred.
... People are finding less silence in today's societies. They seek out places of refuge and retreat, hoping for the blessing of mere quite and perhaps, sheer silence. They go to monasteries and hermitages so they can learn to listen, or listen more attentively. ... listening is crucial there, and people recognise that fact instinctively. To what are monasteries listening in their silence? To the word of God; to their innermost hearts; to grace at work in the spirit; to what they discern to be truth - ultimate truth. Here is the place where one is ultimately completely naked - stripped of all pretension and illusion - and where one stands truly as one is in the presence of God. Here one stands, simply and utterly, in truth.'
To read the unfolding narrative of each day's Advent Adventures with Silence short quotes in order, click the image of the blue tin mug.
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