We need silence to be alone with God, to speak to him, to listen to him, to ponder his words deep in our hearts. We need to be alone with God in silence to be renewed and to be transformed. Silence gives us a new outlook on life. In it we are filled with the […]

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Book One, 20: The Love of Solitude and Silence
Seek a suitable time for leisure, and meditate often on the favors of God. Leave curiousities alone. Read such matters as bring sorrow to the heart rather than occupation to the mind. If you withdrew yourself from unnecessary talking and idle running about, from listening to gossip […]

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The ninth degree of humility is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence, not speaking until he is questioned. For the Scripture shows that "in much speaking there is no escape from sin" (Prov. 10:19) and that "the talkative man is not stable on the earth" (Ps. 13[14]9:12).
Rule of St. Benedict

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We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…. We need silence to be able to touch souls. […]

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I am travelling to the Catholic New Media Celebration, and since my husband is driving I have had time to text a friend or two. The lovely thing about having serious conversations via text message is that sometimes the desire for brevity (even with a full keyboard on the phone, it's still a big pain […]

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A soul arms itself by prayer for all kinds of combat. In whatever state the soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after purity must pray, or else it will never attain it; a […]

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The May-June 08 issue of This Rock has a fascinating article on Thomas Merton. I particularly loved this quote from Conjectures of Guilty Bystander (this book is recommended with caution since it was written in Merton’s less orthodox period….but I liked this quote anyway):

I will be a better Catholic, not if I can refute every shade […]

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While rightly charging United States bishops with doing all in their power to heal the dreadful wounds caused by priests who forsake their vows and prey on children, the Holy Father also rightly draws attention to the wider context of what it means to fully protect children. Although I have seen him attacked and accused […]

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I feel like some kind of groupie….everything I have ever read by Benedict XVI makes me love and respect him more and then he says something like THIS and I positively want to swoon…
In Christianity, there can be no room for purely private religion: Christ is the Savior of the world, and, as members of […]

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The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.     — G.K. Chesterton

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Judas is neither a master of evil nor the figure of a demoniacal power of darkness but rather a syncophant who bows down before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashion. But it is precisely this anonymous power that crucified Jesus, for it was anonymous voices that cried, “Away with him! Crucify him!” […]

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