Benedict on Silence

Paul writes – Joan Chittister (via my good blogosphere friend Anthony Hanson) in her wonderful commentary on St. Benedict’s rule makes the following comments about silence and listening…the emphasis is Anthony’s. This is a good text (Anthony’s whole post) which provides great material for slow reading, reflective questioning of ones own life, and quiet listening for God; for the inner movement of the Spirit…

“Benedictine spirituality forms us to listen always for the voice of God. When my own noise is what drowns that word out, the spiritual life becomes a sham. Benedictine spirituality forms us to know our place in the world. When we refuse to give place to others, when we consume all the space of our worlds with our own sounds and our own truths and our own wisdom and our own ideas, there is no room for anyone else's ideas. When a person debates contentiously with anyone, let alone with the teachers and guides of their life, the ego becomes a majority of one and there is no one left from whom to learn. But Benedictine spirituality is a builder of human community. When talk is unrestrained, when gossip becomes the food of the soul, then destruction of others can't be far behind. When talk is loud and boisterous, when we make light of everything, when nothing is spared the raillery of a joke, the seriousness of all of life is at stake and our spirits wither from a lack of beauty and substance.

Read Anthony’s whole post here. There is much that we can learn and ponder upon as church – both gathered and dispersed. Silence and listening; making space for God in stillness and quietness. Silence and listening nourish our deepest self (our inwardness as human beings); they enable us to honour and extend gracious hospitality to the other. Contemplative silence deepens us, deepens relationships, and deepens our hearing of the world(s) within which we are both serving and in conversation with. We need to really HEAR what the Spirit is saying to the church. Benedict’s commentary on silence and listening is a good place to start. Good introductions to Benedict’s rule will help us more deeply understand Benedict:

Introductions I have found helpful are:

·        The Rule of Benedict: Insight for the Ages by Joan Chittister.

·        Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today by Joan Chittister.

·        A Life Giving Way: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict by Esther De Waal.

·        Living with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality by Esther De Waal.

Is this a practical outcome of yesterday’s post – Postmodernism encouraging me to recover, re-work, and re-integrate the “ancient”? Notice too the presence of the words "life" and "living" in the titles. Is St. Benedict offering us a way, in Christ Jesus, of really living, of becoming more fully alive?

Comments

[A]

I must say excellent book recommendations all. Thanks Paul.