Clare’s words may sound extreme, yet we must remember that they are directed to women who have chosen to live a monastic life. Having said this, it cannot be overstated just how important silence is in the spiritual life, even for householders. Do not confuse silence with the absence of noise or mere quiet. Silence is the absence of motion, thought, and desire. At its purest level, silence is the naked presence of God. It is the womb that nurtures all that is sublime and simultaneously gives birth to inspired wisdom and inspired words. Silence is resting in the nest of God’s being. Silence is the chamber that incubates true creativity and the portal wherein all that is true, beautiful, and good enters into creation. Silence is the healing balm for our fears, traumas, and self-hatred. Silence is death to the ego and life to the soul. Silence is the antidote to our obsession with opinion, ideology, and tribal thinking. It dissolves our distorted self-images and reveals the face we had before we were born. Silence is depthless and eternal.
We cannot make sacred silence happen; it comes as a grace. However, this gift is always offered to us. It is our job to make room for silence, thus making room for God. We make room for silence by choosing to foster contemplative prayer and meditation. We make room for silence by choosing not to be infatuated with lesser gods, with our own thoughts and feelings, or with our own happiness projects. We make room for silence by paying attention to truth, beauty, and goodness. We make room for silence by bowing to love. We make room for silence by serving something bigger than ourselves. We make room for silence by avoiding speech that is frivolous, indiscreet, and toxic. We make room for silence by fasting from all forms of social media. We make room for silence by including periods of time for solitude into our lives. We make room for silence by prayers of gratitude. And, we make room for silence by surrendering our will to God and abandoning ourselves to Divine Providence. Valentin Tomberg beautifully describes how the silence unfolds and the blessings it brings to us:
“To begin with there are moments, subsequently minutes, then ‘quarters of an hour’ for which complete silence lasts. With time, the silence or concentration without effort becomes a fundamental element always present in the life of the soul… it is in like manner that a perpetual service of silence is established in the soul which continues all the same when one is active, when one works, or when one converses. This zone of silence being once established, you can draw from it both for rest and for work… For the zone of silence does not only signify that the soul is at rest, but also that there is contact with the heavenly spiritual world, which works together with the soul. He who finds silence in the solitude of concentration without effort is never alone. He never bears alone the weights that he has to carry; the forces of heaven, the forces from on high, are there taking part from now on. For silence is the sign of real contact with the spiritual world and this contact, in turn, always engenders the influx of forces.”
Divine Beloved
In every moment,
You invite me into Silence.
