Solitude…is experienced, first of all, at
the fine point in the heart where each person is ceaselessly created within a
dialogue, in the course of which he receives his own name from God. This is…continuous prayer, which is the
monastic form of prayer par excellence.
Solitude is next experienced in all the deaths to the self which
constitute the numerous, daily decisions that oblige us to choose … to remain
faithful to the call we have received from Christ. This is what is known as
continual conversion. It is also
experienced in all the concrete demands the arise from our commitment to live
the Gospel with others under a common rule.
This is obedience...Solitude is neither Christian, nor even real, if it
is not the other side of communion.
Reflection by
Dom Armand Veilleux.
