Silence is a hallmark of prayer in many religious traditions. It carries with it a certain awe, as if maintaining extended periods of silence were
Pope Benedict XVI saw the need for an education in silence in our time: “Ours is not an age which fosters recollection; at times one
Our interior conversations come to silence when we learn to transform them into prayer. As a rule, only God can have direct access to the
St. Teresa of Avila admitted to spending too much time conversing in her convent’s parlor. Claire Dwyer poses the question today, “Where’s our parlor?”
“The silence of prayer is a surrendering of our own words and the noise surrounding us so that something far fuller can rush in – so that we can be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19). So that the creative, powerful and eternally self-donating Word, the one Word that matters, the eloquent Word that contains perfectly within it all our poor scattered syllables of truth, can be spoken. And in speaking, transform us within that silence to be a little bit more like Him. In speaking, reduce our interior and exterior storms to obedient breezes.”
Claire Dwyer reflects on the necessity of silence in the spiritual life.
What constitutes interior silence? And just how important is it?
