The Spiritual Life, Doctrine and Practise of Christian Perfection (Classic Reprint)

One may be fond of silence and loneliness because he is stupid, or ignorant; or because he wishes to spite his friends a sullen silence, grieving those whose happiness depends on his kind words. Perhaps it may be the shyness of a bashful spirit that makes us hold our peace a form of human respect. But religious solitariness is that prayerful wisdom which finds the souls best solace in conversing alone with God. I magine, in the simplicity of thy heart, that thou art out of the world with God, that thou art already in eternity, separated from the body, and no longer disturbed by the things of earth an exhortation of Blessed A lbertus Magnus, which needs but a grammatical re setting to become a definition of religious solitude. Let us realize that it is God splan to sanctify us one by one. Holiness is indeed imparted by the outward medium of the Sacraments, yet it is an inward process. Now, silence is the conversation of the divinity, the language of the angels, the eloquence of heaven, the art of persuading God. So said de Ranee who had known all the joys and all the benefits of speech in his life in the world, and of silence in his life at La Trappe. Trust him with the scales for adjusting their relative value. We cannot conceive of anyone acquiring an intimate love of God, or a deep grief for sin, except he be fond of spiritual retirement. Holy love and holy sorrow are fruit of the tree of solitude.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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