A post throughout each week of the month, offering quotes and resources linked to one contemporary author who writes about silence and its role as a spiritual discipline.
In this series, some posts use short quotations but offer links to associated resources in the text below the image-backed quote. In other weeks, the short, image-backed quote are taken from a more extensive quotation from the month's author, given below the image. And in the last week of the month there are questions to encourage reflection on the month's quotations.

Quotes for each week of September will appear below in ascending date order.

Sally Longley, our author for September, lives in Sydney, Australia. Having recently completed a PhD in theology, she is also a member of the Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Direction. She teaches others undertaking a four-year Ignatian SD training course and is an advanced Veriditas Labyrinth facilitator.
Monday 5th September, 2022
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​Sally Longley, Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul ​(Cascade Books, 2021), 2.
Images: Filip Kominik, Czech Republic, unsplash.com/@filipkominik

This short image-backed quote is taken from Sally Longley's book, Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul (Cascade Books, 2021), 2. You can read about this book here. 

Sally Longley lives in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, in a cliff-top house overlooking the beautiful coastline of the northern beaches. Sally began her working life as a university lecturer in Urban Studies before studying theology in London, South Africa and the USA. For several years she was President of the Australian Network for Spiritual Direction and she is well-known down under as a spiritual accompanist in the Ignatian tradition. To find out more about Ignatian spirituality, click here. As a staff member at the Peter Canisius Centre for Ignatian Spirituality, much of Sally's time is spent in leading retreats and workshops. Other than the book from which September's quotes will be taken, Sally has also written Walking the Labyrinth as the Beloved in John's Gospel (2016). To read more about this book, click here. If you'd like to watch a 20 minute video on YouTube in which Sally explains how to walk a labyrinth as an aid to meditation and prayer, click here. As the majority of us don't have a handy neighbourhood labyrinth, finger-walking a labyrinth is a more accessible, anytime option and can be done from the comfort of your armchair. For a downloadable finger-labyrinth click here. To find out more about what Sally Longley says about herself, and to explore the lovely video-diary blog posts that she uploads to her website, 'Wise Arts for the Soul', click here.
Monday 12th September, 2022
​Sally Longley, Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul ​(Cascade Books, 2021), 55.
Image: Shane, New England, USA, unsplash.com/@theyshane 

​The short image-backed quote, above, is an extract from a longer quotation, below, taken from Sally Longley's Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul (Cascade Books, 2021), 55. You can read more about this book by clicking here and you can go to her 'A month with Sally Longley' page by clicking here.

'God has many ways to communicate with us, and some of these are languages, silence being one of them. … as we wait patiently, we begin to realise that silence is a language God uses to call out other voices and languages, those of the environment as well as our own inner voice. In the depth of mystical experiences, these voices join as one voice. … As we encounter God through becoming attentive and beholding in wonder little-known saints – the trees, grasses, riverbeds and the humblest and most exquisite of creatures – as we listen in to the wisdom all this strange and magnificent world has for us, we hear the Creator’s voice, and are drawn into relishing a honeyed feast with God.'
Monday 19th September, 2022:
The funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

​Sally Longley, Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul ​(Cascade Books, 2021), 113.
Image: NPG, bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59761477

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​This quotation and image were released on the day of the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, whose Christian faith 'shaped and guided her throughout her life in a way the public only began to appreciate later in her reign', says Aleem Maqbool, Religion editor for BBC news (bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62942772, accessed 18.9.22). 

The short image-backed quote, above, is an extract from a longer quotation, below, taken from Sally Longley's Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul (Cascade Books, 2021), 113. ​You can read more about this book by clicking here and you can go to her 'A month with Sally Longley' page by clicking here. 

Just as each of the contexts listed in this week's quote are portals to encounter with God in silence, so too is our natural propensity for reflection, at the time of their death, on the lives of those whom we have respected or loved.

'The creative silence introduced into a classroom poetry workshop is very different from the silence a fisherman exudes sitting at the end of a pier, or that of a woman breastfeeding her newborn, or in the presence of angelic beings in silent worship. Each one carries a context, a quality, each its own texture and evocative capacity, its own shape and colour. This is just as every door for every house differs. It may be hand-carved, or a commonly manufactured door that at first glance seems uninteresting and unremarkable. Yet each door leads to somewhere, just as each portal of silence leads to a place. Each door holds the question Jesus implies: Will you knock?'  (Matthew 7:7-8, NRSV: 'Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and [s]he who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.')
Monday 26th September, 2022
Sally Longley, Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul (Cascade Books, 2021), 7.
Image: Hugues de Buyer-Mimeure, Lyons, France, instagram.com/huguesdbm

This short image-backed quote, above, is taken from Sally Longley's Conversations with Silence: Rosetta Stone of the Soul (Cascade Books, 2021), 7. ​You can read more about this book by clicking here and you can go to her 'A month with Sally Longley' page by clicking here. 

The last week of each month in the 'Quoting Silence: A month with ...' series offers some questions to help you reflect further on the month's quotations and images, and how they resonate with your own spiritual journey and relationship with God.

Before reflecting on this month's quotes and images, take time to re-ground yourself in your body.
Perhaps take a few slow breaths, feel your feet on the floor and be aware of how your body feels in this moment.

1) Read back over the this month's quotes and spend time looking at their associated images. As you do so, note a phrase or image that draws your attention. If this is a phrase, you might like to write this out in a journal or on a piece of paper where you will see it regularly. Consider reading aloud several times what you have written to help the words sink more deeply into your heart. If an image resonates with you, let your gaze rest lightly on it for a couple of minutes, allowing it to speak to your heart. Consider using it as a screensaver for a while, or perhaps print it out and place it somewhere that you will see it often.

2) What emerges as you sit with the phrase or image that attracted your attention? Does a new insight or a question, emotion or sensation arise? Take some time to write down and ponder on whatever you notice. 

3) Where can you see hope in the midst of what is emerging in you, for yourself, your neighbour, your community, or the planet? How might this impact your daily life and those with whom you share it? 

4) In the days and weeks to come, how can you stay open to what you have discovered from your reflections?

Take some time to give thanks for the hope that you have found in this month's quotes and images.
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