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St Benedict understood
that silence is an essential element of monastic
life. This is so that we can learn to listen to
God more acutely. God speaks to us in the Bible,
but also in the depths of our heart and, as we
begin to tune into him, we learn to be attentive
to his presence in others. |
This
kind of sensitivity and awareness makes it easier
to pray at all times. So a monk seeks to practise
a considerable degree of silence and recollection.
In Benedictine life, there are times of silence
(especially during the night) and there are places,
such as a monk’s cell (his room), the library,
the garden, the cloister and the church, where
he will be able to discover the solitude which
is typical of monastic life.
It can seem a busy life, but it is a measured life;
and to balance hard work a monk needs time and space
to be on his own. More than that, a monk lives off
silence, and a sign of a vocation to the monastic
life is the ability to take to it and create it.
The earliest monks went into the desert so that their
lives could be dominated by this sense of God. In
the Bible the desert is the place where God met his
people and made them his own. It is also the place
where Christ was tempted, and a monk has to face
up to everything in himself which would try to stand
in the place where God belongs. People may sometimes
feel lonely, but instead of running away, a monk
tries to find the place in his heart where he can
find God. There is a world of difference between
loneliness and solitude with God.
Silence also helps build up a healthy community life
in the monastery. What binds us together as a human
fellowship is the knowledge that we are each trying
to answer to God's call to seek him. Listening to
each other helps us understand and support each other.
It is a way of learning reverence for God's presence
in every other human being.
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