We are pleased to share an excerpt from the introduction of Fr. Basil Nortz’s new book with Sophia Institute Press, “Holy Silence.”
“There is no other word that singularly summarizes the distinct quality of interior life than silence. To embrace silence is to prepare for holiness. Silence is the company on the path.”
With this observation, Sr. Marie-Aimée de Jésus introduced her reflection on the twelve degrees of silence. This nineteenth-century spiritual mystic and Carmelite nun perceived the essential need for silence in the development of the life of Christ in our souls. Recognizing the necessity of cultivating a holy silence that embraces all aspects of our lives, she briefly pointed out how silence should penetrate all the faculties of our bodies and souls.
It is only in silence and prayer that the supernatural life of grace develops within us. A soul that has lost its love for silence has lost its love for its eternal goal. Holy silence is the only bridge across which one can enter into a more intimate union with God. All those who wish to progress in holiness ought to exercise themselves in these twelve forms of holy silence:
- Silence of speech: speaking little with creatures and much with God.
- Silence of the body: observing silence in the pace of our lives to assist our souls in interior recollection.
- Silence of the senses: setting a guard over the gateways of our souls.
- Silence of the imagination: silencing our unruly fantasies.
- Silence of the memory: living in the present moment.
- Silence of interior conversations: addressing our interior speech to God, who dwells within us.
- Silence of the heart: calming ill-directed zeal, exaggerated ardor, and moodiness.
- Silence of self-love: properly ordering our self-love to prohibit self-justification.
- Silence of the spirit: renouncing our ideas of self-actualization and curiosity.
- Silence of judgment: refraining from harsh judgments of others and from stubbornness.
- Silence of the will: quieting the anxieties of our hearts through trust in God’s loving Providence.
- Silence of union: resting in God, in union with Him.
The exercise of these types of silence is realized not only through our efforts and struggles to purify ourselves through mortification but, more effectively — as in every aspect of our spiritual lives — through the passive purifications that God offers. We need God’s grace for every true development in the supernatural life. But at times, the grace of God comes in the form of external and internal trials and purifications that call for our cooperation and acceptance. An attentiveness to God’s action in our lives is essential to our growth.
From the outset, it must be clear that silence is not our goal. Silence is the means toward a loving, intimate union with the personal God who created and redeemed us and who sanctifies us. Silence is for the sake of listening or a receptivity toward communication.
“It is language and not silence that makes man truly human. The word has supremacy over silence. But language becomes emaciated if it loses its connection with silence. Our task, therefore, is to uncover the world of silence so obscured today — not for the sake of silence but for the sake of language.” (Max Picard)
Listening, in its turn, is for the sake of loving obedience, and obedience consists in a conformity of our created wills to the uncreated Will of God. This conformity is the culmination of Holy Silence the supernatural life of grace, which unites us in love to God.
Author Bio – Fr. Basil Nortz, O.R.C.
Fr. Basil Nortz, O.R.C., is a member of the Order of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross. He has recorded numerous talks on silence and the holy angels.
