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Carmel…A life of
• Prayer
• Fraternity
•
Service
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CONTEMPLATION
the heart of our Carmelitecharism. It is the dynamiccore of our specific missionthat unifies and shapes the
other essential elements of our way of life: prayer,fraternity and service.
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Prayer is a dialogue with , arelationship and it is God who
always initiates it. Our search forGod is a response to his voice. It
is the experience of God whotransforms us.
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The Carmelite charism
implies a way of lifepermeated by the livingpresence of Christ in the
sense of vacare Deo.
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This attitude means to put all of
one‟s time and talents at thedisposition of the Lord, to allowone‟s heart to be captured by him
and belong to him, to enjoy beingin his company.
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The first hermits on Mount Carmellearned from Elijah how to remain
in God‟s presence.(1 Kgs 17:1) andfrom Mary, the prayerful woman,who pondered everything in herheart, we have the sublime modelof prayerful attention.
Lk18:15)
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In Jesus we see what we can beand will be. It is God‟s will Inthat we should reach the fullmaturity of His Son and to attain
this we must pass through aprocess of transformation.
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This transforming process iscontemplation through which
we accept the boundless loveof God.
(Günter Benker, O. Carm.)
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Contemplation was only
understood in the perspective of alife in the cloister, spending asmuch time as possible in one‟s own
cell or, even worse, fostering theold dichotomy between “action” and “contemplation” by makingsuch a great contrast betweenactive apostolate and a life
dedicated to prayer.
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Our spirituality is particularly
rich in this matter. It is whatpeople expect of Carmel andwhat we must offer if we are to
be faithful to the vocation givenus by God.
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Our Holy Rule states: “To meditate day and night onthe law of the Lord and
keeping watch in prayer.”
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The centrality of prayer takespriority over all the other means
described in our Rule to enableCarmelites to live in allegianceto Jesus Christ and to render himunswerving service with a pureheart and an upright
conscience.”
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Today contemplation isunderstood as an attitude and a
life-style, as an inner journeyand a process of transformationthat affects all dimensions of
our life : our prayer, activity,solitude our relationships, and
what we are.
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Fr. Joseph Chalmer defined
contemplation as seeing withthe eyes of God and lovingwith the heart of God.
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Contemplation is the mostessential and basic value of our
vocation because it meansentrusting ourselves in anysituation of our life to the
boundless love of God without anyother security so that He may heal
our wounds, purify ourmotivations, transform our feelingsand our thinking according to the
principles of the Gospel.
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This fundamental metanoia, thisexistential change of mind and
heart is the centre of ourcharism as Carmelites. Through
this transformation we becomewhat we are supposed to be: tobe love in the heart of the
Church.
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Spiritual life is not a matter of feelings but of a conscious
decision for a relationshipoffered by God through Jesus
Christ, the image of the invisibleGod who took the initiative andis waiting for our response.
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As Carmelites we are asked to
respond by contemplation, amutual loving encounter orrelationship.
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Contemplation has two
dimensions:• active: “contemplating God” in order to get to
know him better(meditation)
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passive: “letting Godcontemplate me” so that I may be
fully known by him and at thesame time gain a true knowledge
of Him - no longer through myown activity but through thepersonal and intimate revelation
of his love.
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This process of transformation is
liberating but also painful,because all the security thatcame from our familiar ways of
thinking and perceiving will betaken away from us. John of the
Cross therefore calls this processan experience of dark nightwhere we must only cling to pure
and naked faith.
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This transforming process of contemplation which involves ouractive meditation in times of
prayer and in the events of ourdaily life as well as our passivereceptivity for God in all
situations of our lives which maylead into the true contemplativeexperience.
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Our Carmelite tradition hands on
to us the cult of silence, receivedfrom the beginning of the Order,when it suggests, as an essentialpart of our life, that we live in thePRESENCE OF GOD, in constant
touch with HIM: “Bear yourself blameless in my presence” (Gen17:1).
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Silence has two levels:• exterior:
of words and gestures or silenceon a “conscious” level;
• interior: (internal faculties)imagination, intelligence,affection or silence to enlighten
the depths of the “unconscious”, a silence to purify, pacify andunify.
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But like all things, even silence
may be tainted by ambiguity. Itcan bring us to the fullness of LOVE and COMMUNION, or it canincrease selfishness, leading to alack of openness, seeking
comfort, flight, self-centerednessand self-interest.
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Silence and Human Maturity “Silence is a science that is
learnt, a wisdom that isacquired, an experience that islived, but above all a love that
gives itself.”
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Human beings are called topeace, deep joy, love and a
constant celebration of life. St.Irenaeus summarized this well:“The glory of God is man fullyalive.” It is to live and enjoy thelife for which Jesus came. “I
came that they might have lifeand have it to the full‟ (Jn 10:10)”.
P h thi f ll f
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Person who come this fullness of life are those who have learnt to
love, as what befits one who isindwelt by LOVE, who live in arelationship of love. Thus, it is
only this RELATIONSHIP OF LOVEthat gives meaning to human life,
because only those who arecapable of developing and livingthis relationship achieve human
maturity.
C i ti i gift f G d th t
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Communication is a gift of God thatbridge relationship with others and
with creation. It can be verbal (inwords) or non-verbal (actions, lookor even a thought). But any form of
communication if it is not born outof the depths of silence is
meaningless, and most of the time,hinders communion inrelationships, if not totally
destroys it.
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Only silence endows words — instruments of dialogue and of
communication — with theirdeepest dimension and truemeaning.
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People who keep silence come
to an interior peace that allowsthem to speak and work moreefficiently; in fact, silence is
also the climate of creativity.
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Only those who have come totrue solitude are capable of a
true relationship of love. In fact,love demands an understandingdialogue, a sharing of life and
communication. Indeed, we cansay that to love is to share, and
to share is to communicate.
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Silence and solitude are essential
factors to achieve perfectcommunication, sharing andauthentic relationship of love
and dialogue.
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Only through silence can onelearn to search one‟s interior life,
to understand one‟s mystery, todefine oneself, to know oneself,to find real truth, to grow in
perfection, as well as to know theother and to enter into true
relationships.
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Without silence our dialogue
becomes superficial, with nopossibility of understanding themystery of the other or to listencarefully.
Silence activates our ability forsolidarity. To seek silence, oneneed
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“Silence is the great teacher of truth...
the teacher of love”. Hence it affects
the conscious and subconscious in a
person.
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The heart of every person, nomatter what his/her state, needsto practice SILENCE because it is
the indispensable atmospherethat accompanies a person along
the way to growth and maturityuntil the person truly becomesformed according to the will of
GOD.
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Two basic types of silence:
a) the silence that is a negationof the Word
b) the silence that welcomes theWord.
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The silence that is a negation of the WordThis kind of silence closes theperson to love, to communication.
It takes on various forms:• Silence of indifference: asthough the other does not exist.
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• Silence of pride: as though theother were worth nothing.
• Silence of rancor: notaccepting or unforgiving.
•
Silence of weakness: fear of commitment, flight.• Silence of complicity: covering
up culpable situations.• Silence of betrayal: refusing to
witness to the truth.
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The silence that welcomes the
WordThis is the silence that gives properspace to persons. It provides onewith the opportunity to listen tohim/herself, to listen to the other,
to listen to God. It harmonizes themind with eternity, leaving roomfor LOVE.
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This is the silence that purifies,silencing the dissonant voices of
selfishness that pollute LOVE.This is the silence that brings the
fullness of life.
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The effects of silence in a person‟s
lifeIt calms, purifies, comforts,enlightens, frees, leads to unity,and strengthens communion,
reveals one‟s identity, refines the
conscience, leads one to intuit thepresence of God in oneself, makesthe “heart” grow.
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Person who live in the depths of silence
contemplate reality in its true light.
They have attain the harmony of their
being, the most stable unity: “It is not I
who live, but Christ lives in me.” Theysee the essence rather than the
appearance of things... PEACE and JOY
are their permanent “habitat”. They arefree from biases and prejudices that
clouds the vision.
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Silence, practiced responsibly and
fully, educates the person in thedifficult art of speaking, making one
weigh well one’s words and say only
that which is according to God’s will.
SILENCE IN CARMELITE TRADITION
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SILENCE IN CARMELITE TRADITION
“If you remain united to the lightit will teach you everything;it will reveal whatever needs to be
learnt,not with words, but in another
way.” “Silence without internal words would be nothing, absolute
emptiness.”
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The origins of the Order tell us of a
search for a style of life that aimed
at educating the heart. Its manyreforms have always stressed love of
silence, in loving and constant
attention to God’s presence, as an
established and sound means of
achieving VACARE DEO.
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Carmelites have not invented anything
new or original. They searched the lives
of the people in the Bible, the greatmoments in their history, the habits of
their leaders, the manner of being,
speaking and acting of Jesus himself,and they found that these persons
achieved maturity in SILENCE.
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The inspirational models of Carmel
— Elijah and Mary — are perfect
models of a contemplative and openSILENCE.
Our mystics experienced the fruits of
silence in their lives.
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In Carmel, SILENCE is intimatelylinked with the experience of theDESERT and SOLITUDE, elementsthat are interdependent,
complementary and indispensablefor the rich and wonderful life of our spiritual heritage.
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In this heritage, DESERT-SOLITUDE-SILENCE are not necessarilygeographical places. They areabove all states of mind and of
heart, which produce in persons aninterior refinement, a capabilityand availability to share one‟s gift
and to share in the mystery of theother. This is the revelation of LOVE.
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Silence, as understood in Carmel,
leads to direct contact with thetruth of our existence and bringsus face to face with GOD, giving us
that deep experience which makesus desire ardently, “Ah, tear theveil of this our sweet encounter!” (John of the Cross, The LivingFlame of Love, Stanza 1).
We hear the voice of GOD when
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We hear the voice of GOD whenwe live in contemplative silence,
and makes us hear its echoes inevery brother and sister, and inevery creature... Life in VACAREDEO, „Happy the man you choose,whom you invite to live in your
courts. Fill us with the good thingsof your house, of your holyTemple” (Ps 65, 4-5).
Silence makes up much of our Rule
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Silence makes up much of our Rule
Number 21 presents silence so
explicitly with biblical references and indetail as to its observance:
The Apostle would have us keepsilence, for in silence he tells us to
work. As the Prophet also makes
known to us: Silence is the way tofoster holiness. Elsewhere he says, Your
strength will lie in silence and hope.
For this reason I lay down that you are
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For this reason I lay down that you are
to keep silence from after Compline
until after Prime the next day. At othertimes, although you need not keep
silence so strictly, be careful not to
indulge in a great deal of talk, for asScripture has it - and experience
teaches us no less - sin will not be
wanting where there is much talk, and
he who is careless in speech will come
to harm; and elsewhere: The use of of
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many words brings harm to the
speaker’s soul. And our Lord says in theGospel: Every rash word uttered will
have to be accounted for on judgment
day. Make a balance then, each of you,to weigh his words in; keep a tight rein
on your mouths, lest you should
stumble and fall in speech and your fall
be irreparable and prove mortal.
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Like the Prophet, watch your step
lest your tongue give offence, and
employ every care in keeping silent,which is the way to foster holiness.”
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As revealed in the whole of the
provisions of our Rule, silence is to give
content to life, authority to the word,
sense, content and transparency to
dialogue and communication, especiallyin that which concerns the highest level
of human life.
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Silence is an indispensable means
that is recognized as sound from theexperience of many who in the past
and in the present have chosen to live
according to this Rule.
It is strange and remarkable what
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It is strange and remarkable what
authority this Rule holds, a Rule that is
so brief and concise, yet woven with“well-chosen words”, born from lived
experience rather than from concepts
and empty considerations.
The value of silence is emphasized in
the Rule not only by the words innumber 21, but by the style of life it
puts before us.
Carmelite Experiences of Silence
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Carmelite Experiences of Silence
The Carmelite’s style of life is
marked by silence. The whole of
the Rule implies that a life of
silence is synonymous with fullness
of life, because it is a life of intimacy with God, of fraternity,
and of service.
Throughout the centuries, Carmelites
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g ,
have always kept and encouraged
silence and solitude insisting on a lifeof recollection, avoiding anything that
might endanger or threaten it, using
appropriate means to ensure life in thepresence of God. The Order shows its
fidelity to the recommendation of
these means: “The interior man is
aware that times of silence are
requisites of divine love.
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Our life is a constant conversation withGod which consists in WORD-SILENCE.
To learn Silence-Word one needs to go
through solitude and the desert.“Silence and solitude are brother and
sister who hold hands and gently helpeach other” (John of St. Samson,
Theorems).
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All this leads us to the conclusion that:
“Silence is voluntary solitude, kept
even in the midst of the people.
Without silence man is attracted toexternal things. It is silence that makes
the desert, without which it is
impossible to find holiness’, (L.Herling, S.J., Ascetic and Mystical
Theology).
l h h f l d d
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In Carmel, the search for solitude and
silence is one with the experience of
the desert, which gives form to this
way of life. It is an experience that
leads the person to a purification of its ambiguities, towards a radical
Christian commitment, creating the
conditions for following Christ, “to serve him pure in heart and stout in
conscience”.
Silence-solitude-desert is not just an
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j
external sign of life that the Carmelites
sought and still seek, but a desire toachieve the renunciation of all that is
attached to the old person in order to
arrive at the experience GOD as theABSOLUTE and of the relativity of all
else, including people and oneself. It is
a way of following Jesus who always
sought the presence of God in solitary
places.
The practice of the desert is the
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The practice of the desert is the
keynote and is part of any serious
search for God.
The Carmelite way of life is oriented
towards the most absolute of of silences: the death of self in order to
contemplate God who dwells in
inaccessible light. It is in this mould of thinking that many generations of
Carmelites were formed.
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QUOTES FROM OUR
CARMELITE SAINTS
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Blessed John Soreth: “The cell protects
the son of grace... It nourishes him,embraces him, leads him to the fullness
of perfection and makes him worthy of
conversing with God...The cell of theservant of the Lord is like the holy
temple of God. As in the temple so in
the cell, divine matters are dealt with,
but in the cell, even more frequently...
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You will have an external and an
internal cell: the external cell is the
room of your soul and body; the
internal cell is your conscience,
where the God of your interior worldmust dwell with your spirit.”
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John of St. Samson (+l636) taught
the novices the value of silence,
calling the custom of keeping silence
“the virtue of silence”, difficult to
achieve for those who are poor inthe gifts of the spirit.
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“It is often necessary to go to
extremes in order to find the just
means. Hence one must exerciseabsolute silence. In order to achieve
the necessary attitude of speaking
well and with precision, silence andsolitude are two brothers who hold
hands to help each other.
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Interior silence is more perfect than
exterior silence. It checks andcontrols the movements of all the
passions. We must achieve interior
silence by practicing exterior
silence... Silence is a very important
cure for our blindness and all otherspiritual defects.” (Spiritual
sentences).
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“The Father spoke one Word, which
was his Son, and he speaks it in an
eternal silence; and in silence it
must be heard by the soul.” (John of
the Cross)
“O C l i il d
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“On Mount Carmel, in silence and
solitude, in uninterrupted prayer
because kept up through the various
occupations, the Carmelite lives as
s/he would in heaven... Thus thesoul yearns for silence in order to
penetrate ever more the infinite
being... S/he loves silence andprayer, because it is the essence of
our life.
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The Virgin’s attitude during the
months between the Annunciationand Christmas is the model of
interior souls, of those chosen by
God to live an inner life, in the depthof the bottomless abyss... And this
does not prevent them from giving
themselves outwardly when charity
demands.” (Elisabeth of the Trinity)
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“The visible events that renew the
face of the earth are anticipated inthe silent dialogue of the souls
consecrated to God...
Jesus gave himself to solitary prayer
in the quiet of the night, atop the
mountain, in the desert, far frompeople....” (Edith Stein)
CARMELITE SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
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CARMELITE SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
Carmelite spirituality offers us a
complete, efficient, challenging and life
giving plan to go to the root of one’s being and discover the truth about
oneself as one searches for the truth
that is God and realize God’s plan. This
is achieved in silence by going through
the desert
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This journey may begin with
imperfect motivations, but, as oneprogresses in one’s search for God,
these motivations are purified and
the person is led to an increasingly
full option for life, emerging in love
of solidarity, and achieving fraternalcommunion.
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Then we will have silenced the spirit
of the world and there emerges in us
the presence of God. We come to theexperiential knowledge of the
gratuitous generosity of God and the
desire to identify ourselves with God
in the love of neighbor
Silence-solitude prepares the person
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for presence that leads to adoration at
the same time transformingrelationships and service into signs of
love.
In silence-solitude our being is open to
the divine dimension making us achieve
God’s plan for us and for the world. Thisis the Carmelite way of preparing for
and realizing mission.
Changes Worked by Silence-Solitude
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a) Life from the exterior to one’s
interior We achieve our integration when we
have a clear knowledge of ourselves,the circumstances of life, and
accepting them in the light of God.
The sense of guilt, sadness, distress,
all the things that cause neurosis will
disappear
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It is in living in depth that our
being rests and finds PEACE and
JOY. Our commitment to the
diaconia will be a joyful witness of
the presence of God in us.
b)Disintoxication of the person and
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genuine satisfaction
In solitude-silence, we listen more toGod who transforms us from the “old
person into the ‘new person”. It helps
us to be detached from conditional
necessities of life. It frees our mind,
memory and heart from anxiety,insatiability, and fear of losing little
things.
) f f d
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c) Going from possessiveness to freedom
Silence-solitude gradually leads us intothe freedom of the children of God.
Through purification we pass from
attachment and possessiveness to the
liberation from ties. Going from
complexity to simplicity, from theephemeral to the eternal, from the
conditional to the essential.
d) Open to the universal merciful love
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d) Open to the universal merciful love
If we dwell on the Rule meditated with
love, it will grow in value. The deep
consciousness of our fragility taken up
by the ever-present LOVE of GOD opensus to merciful love towards our brothers
and sisters. The capacity to love, freed
from the worship of self, manifests itself in welcoming every person joyfully,
kindly and gently
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Thus, one of the more evident fruitsof silence-solitude is meeting the
brothers and sisters and getting out
of the narrow circle of oneself.
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e) Life of discernment
A loving devotion to God, the only aim
of silence-solitude, leads us to
examine God’s plan for the world allthe time and exclusively. Constant
discernment, which purifies the
motivations and means of our actions,will be our daily guide in every
situation.
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Then, silence gives rise to an attitude
of adoration and increases the capacityof self-giving even to the cross, of
faithfulness, of perfection, of honesty.
Action will be without many words,because it arises from the relationship
with the Lord, and is not based on
weak motivations, but only on the plan
of God.
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Dear Lord, when looking up to Thee,
I see Thy loving eyes on me;Love overflows my humble heart,
Knowing what faithful Friend Thou art.
A cup of sorrow I foresee,
Which I accept for love of Thee.
Thy painful way I wish to go;
The only way to God, I know.
My soul is full of peace and light;
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My soul is full of peace and light;
Although in pain, this light shines bright,
For here thou keepest to Thy breast
My longing heart to find there rest.
Leave me here freely all alone,
In cell where never sunlight shone.
Should no one ever speak to me,This golden silence makes me free!
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For though alone, I have no fear;
Never wert Thou, o Lord, so near.
Sweet Jesus, please, abide with me!My deepest peace I find in Thee.
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Only the one who has discovered
LOVE, present ever so deep within
the self, can come to the full giving of self in PEACE and JOY; but it is
impossible to perceive this love
without silence and solitude.
f) Going from the memory of God to
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) g y
living in God’s presence
Union with God touches one’s most
secret roots, embracing one totally. The
certainty of one’s love takes on anunmistakable character, demanding
more and more loving silence-attention
and experiencing an ever growing thirstfor God.
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One experiences a certain “natural”
living together with God. It is thepossession of the INFINITE GOOD that
gives endless rest and happiness. In
one’s life, one feels the TRINITY as the“parental home” where one wishes to
live for ever.
And so silence in practice becomes
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And so silence in practice becomes
praise It becomes COMMUNION
with the SUPREME GOOD and, inthe SUPREME GOOD, peopled with
the brothers and sisters and withreality. One achieves life in vacare
Deo, which is what the Rule invites
us to aim for.