ST JOSEPH'S ABBEY, SPENCER MA

The practice of silence has its risks because silence is not always a value. There is an unhealthy and negative silence, a silence of death. Non-communication can express mute rebellion, obstinate refusal, deep resentment. By not speaking, one can often avoid being challenged, avoid taking a stand, avoid the relationship that may become too involving, avoid the demands of love. Silence may be a sign of an under developed personality, and introspective, suspicious, moody, morose type of character. Or silence may indicate a vacuum of indifference and be the sign of a haughty, aloof disinterestedness. Such silence is a closure, a selfish shutting-the-world-off, withdrawal behind closed doors posted with a “Do Not Disturb” sign. CHARLES CUMMINGS, OCSO Monastic Practices

We are sometimes inclined to think that the same things are monotonously repeated over and over again in the history of creation. That is because the season is too long by comparison with the brevity of our individual lives, and the transformation too vast and too inward by comparison with our superficial and restricted outlook, for us to see the progress of what is tirelessly taking place in and through all matter and all spirit. Let us believe in revelation, once again our faithful support in our most human forebodings. Under the commonplace envelope of things and of all our purified and salvaged efforts, a new earth is being slowly engendered. PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN The Divine Milieu, Epilogue

Blessed are we, if in poverty of spirit we free ourselves from false confidence in material things, desiring above all else spiritual and religious goods, treating the poor with respect and love, as our brothers and as living images of Christ. Blessed are we, if in the meekness of the strong, we renounce the ruinous power of hate and vengeance, conquering only by goodness and peace. Blessed are we, if we refuse to direct our lives by self interest, nor take pleasure as our goal, but learn to find in temperance strength, in pain a source of redemption, in sacrifice the summit of greatness. Blessed are we, if for the kingdom of God—in our time and in eternity—we learn to struggle and to pardon, to serve and to act, to suffer and to love. POPE PAUL VI Homily in Nazareth, 5 January 1964

The love that God most high has for our soul is so great that it surpasses understanding. No created being can comprehend how much, and how sweetly, and how tenderly our maker loves us. Our in-born will is to have God, and the goodwill of God is to have us. There is no end to our willing and longing until we know God in the fullness of joy. Then our desire is filled. He wills that our occupation shall be striving to know and love him until we are made whole in heaven. Our life is grounded in faith, with hope and love besides. JULIAN OF NORWICH

The lowest place is the only spot on earth which is not open to envy. Here alone there is neither vanity nor affliction of spirit. Yet, “the way of a man is not his own” (Jeremiah 10:23), and sometimes we find ourselves wishing for things that dazzle. When that happens, there is nothing for it but to take our stand among the imperfect and look look upon ourselves as very little souls who, at every instant, need to be upheld by the goodness of God. God reaches out his hand to us the very moment he sees us fully convinced of our nothingness, and hears us cry out, “My foot stumbles, but your mercy is my strength” (Psalm 94:18). Should we attempt great things, however, even under the pretext of zeal, he deserts us. So all we have to do is to humble ourselves, to bear with meekness our imperfections. Herein, for us, lies true holiness. ST. THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX

People’s sense of their worth appears increasingly to depend on what they can accumulate with the power of money. We are constantly being pushed to keep buying, consuming, and distracting ourselves, held captive to a demeaning system that prevents us from looking beyond our immediate and petty needs. The love of Christ has no place in this perverse mechanism, yet only that love can set us free from a mad pursuit that no longer has room for a gratuitous love. Christ’s love can give a heart to our world and revive love wherever we think that the ability to love has been definitively lost. POPE FRANCIS Dilexit Nos (2024)