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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

“My dear Wormwood: Music and silence--how I detest them both!" ~Silence with God

And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Matthew 14:23

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."
Matthew 6:6

O NOW I see what beauties lay
O’er summer’s close,
And autumn’s calm breathing with decay,
With her last dying rose,
Sweeter than spring.

A calm awaiting seems to lie
O’er leaf and wave;
A calm undressing, all so silently,
For calmness of the grave,
Unrepining.

The noiseless brook its banks along
Winds like a lake,
Save stilly heard a rippling under-song,
Whose passing eddies make
Silence more still.

Upon the dread and dim serene,
Each thought that breaks,
And every breath that stirs the quiet scene,
A mighty Being speaks,
Whom we await.

Such is the awful calm they learn
Beneath Thy cross
Who fain would sit, looking for Thy return,
And count the world but loss
Thy love to gain.

ISAAC WILLIAMS
The Banks in Autumn

        “My dear Wormwood: Music and silence--how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father entered Hell--though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express, no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise--Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile--Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress."

C.S. LEWIS
The Screwtape Letters

        
You whom the Holy Spirit is urging to act that your souls may become the Bride of God, must….”sit alone and keep silence” as the prophet says…. Get away then I tell you, not physically but in mind and intention, in spirit and devotion; for the Lord Christ is Himself a Spirit, and it is spiritual solitude that He requires of you, though bodily withdrawal is not without its uses, when it may be had, especially in a time of prayer.  You have His own commandment in the matter, “When you pray, enter into your room and when you have shut the door, pray.”  He, Himself practiced what He preached. He would spend all night in prayer, not only hiding from the crowds, but not allowing any even of His closest friends to come with Him.  Even at the last, when He was hastening to His willing death, though He had taken three with Him, He withdrew even from them when He desired to pray.  You must do likewise, when you want to pray.
        He who would pray must choose the best time to do so as well as the best place.  A time of leisure is the fittest and most suitable, especially the silence of the night; for prayer is freer in the night and purer too.   How confidently does prayer mount up, unknown to any except God and the holy angel who receives it on the heavenly altar! How acceptable and clear it is in its modesty then, how peaceful and serene with no noise or interruption to disturb it!


 BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX
 1090-1153
 On Loving God

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