{"id":26585,"date":"2011-08-13T14:37:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-13T18:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/silence-is-the-environmental-c\/"},"modified":"2011-08-13T14:37:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-13T18:37:53","slug":"silence-is-the-environmental-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2011\/08\/silence-is-the-environmental-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Silence is the environmental condition to listen to God"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sand<\/a><\/p>\n

Image via Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mentioned earlier this week, the Pope spoke of silence and monasteries as places of beauty and the environment that opens the soul to deeper things. I have a particular interest in what the Pope speaks: I love the monastic culture and the heritage it has given us in order to seek the Face of God. Here’s more of the papal text of August 10, 2011:<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

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In every age, men and women who have consecrated their lives to God in prayer – like monks and nuns – have established their communities in particularly beautiful places: in the countryside, on hilltops, in valleys, on the shores of lakes or the sea, or even on little islands. These places unite two elements<\/u> which are very important for contemplative life: the beauty of creation<\/u>, which recalls that of the Creator, and silence<\/u>, which is guaranteed by living far from cities and the great means of communication. Silence is the environmental condition<\/u> that most favors contemplation, listening to God and meditation<\/b>. The very fact of experiencing silence and allowing ourselves to be “filled,” so to speak, with silence, disposes us to prayer. The great prophet, Elijah, on Mount Horeb – that is, Sinai – experienced strong winds, then an earthquake, and finally flashes of fire, but he did not recognize the voice of God in them; instead, he recognized it in a light breeze (cfr. 1 Rev 19:11-13). God speaks in silence<\/i>, but<\/u><\/b> we need to know how to listen<\/i>. This is why monasteries are oases in which God speaks to humanity<\/u>; and there we find the courtyard, a symbolic place because it is a closed space, but open toward heaven<\/b>.<\/span><\/div>\n
\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n

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The world is filled with these oases of the spirit: some very ancient, others are more recent, while still others have been restored by new communities<\/u>. Looking at things from a spiritual perspective, these places of the spirit are a load-bearing structure of the world! It is no accident that many people, especially in times of rest, visit these places and stop there for some days.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Even the soul, thanks be to God, has its needs!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image via Wikipedia Mentioned earlier this week, the Pope spoke of silence and monasteries as places of beauty and the environment that opens the soul to deeper things. I have a particular interest in what the Pope speaks: I love the monastic culture and the heritage it has given us in order to seek the … Continue reading Silence is the environmental condition to listen to God<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2826,1850,2827],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}