Without silence the Spirit will die in us and the creative energy of our life will float away and leave us alone, cold and tired. Without silence we will lose our center and become victims of the many who constantly demand our attention.
Although the disciplne of solitude asks us to set aside time and space, what finally matters is that our hearts become like quiet cells where God can dwell, where ever we go and whatever we do. The more we train ourselves to spend time with God and God alone, the more we will discover that God is with us at all times and in all places. Then we will be able to recognize God even in the midst of a busy and active life.
IN solitude fear and anger can slowly be unmasked …they can lose their power in the embrace of God’s love. Solitude is a place of conversion… converted from people who want to show each other what we have and what we can do into people who raise our open and empty hands to God in the recogntion that all we are is a free gift from God.
Thus, in solitude we encounter not only God but also our true self. In fact, it is precisely in the light of God ‘s presence that we can see who we really are.
Solitude without community leads us to loneliness and despair, but community without solitude hurls us into a void of words and feelings. Solitude is essential to community life because in solitude we grow closer to each other. When we pray alone, study, read, write or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we intereact with each other directly, we are in fact particpaing fully in the growth of community.
Those who live prayerfully are constantly ready to receive the breath of God and to let their lives be renewed and expanded. Those who never pray, on the contrary, are like children with asthma: because they are short of breath, the whole world shrivels up before them.
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