Silence helps a person focus within themselves, recognize their passions, and skillfully combat them. As one elder put it, "If you constantly engage in frivolous conversations, even if these conversations are not sinful, they lead you to forget your inner battle."
Silence protects us from many unnecessary temptations. Remember what one saint of God said: "I have often regretted speaking, but I have never regretted remaining silent."
A person who doesn't force themselves to remain silent constantly falls into mistakes and misunderstandings. Here they say something wrong and hurt someone; there they say too much and upset someone; another time they ask questions and hear something that disconcerts and upsets them. And so the entire day of a person who can't remain silent is filled with temptations and failures.
A person who has learned to remain silent lives without unnecessary problems and is at peace with everyone. And most importantly, silence helps them find peace and quiet within themselves.
In monastic life, silence is not a discipline, not a prohibition, not a burdensome bond. Silence is the expectation of Christ. Silence is a quiet state of soul, a preparation to receive the grace and love of God. Finally, silence filled with prayer is true, profound communion with God and others.
Talkativeness, in fact, stems from a person experiencing a spiritual crisis. A monk who is doing well, who has constant communion with the Lord, who joyfully labors, who longs for the Kingdom of Heaven—such a monk does not seek human contact. He feels fulfillment and happiness from communion with God.
He also communicates with people, but prefers to communicate with them in God—that is, during prayer, during obedience, during general gatherings. And his communication with people occurs mostly in silence. That is, when he is with his neighbors, he tries to remain silent rather than speak. And through silence and prayer, he clearly senses that his neighbor is a mystery, an image of God, a soul loved by Christ. And this, for him, is the highest communion.
If we feel differently, if we urgently need to talk to people, share our impressions, and exchange opinions; if we are tormented by the desire to open our souls to someone, to tell them about our difficulties, to hear words of consolation; if the day in which we have spoken little is an unfortunate one for us, and if on such a day we feel anxiety and melancholy; if in the evening we are unable to reach our cell for a long time, stopping first with one sister, then with another—then all this shows that something has happened to us, a crisis has come in our spiritual life.
Abbess Domnika (Korobeinikova). From a conversation with the sisters
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου