'Pondering this in their hearts, the nuns should make of their house, and especially of their hearts, a place of silence.'
This statement in our Constitutions gives us the why of
silence. It is not an emptiness, but a fullness. We can meet each
other without stopping to chat, although we acknowledge the
presence of God in our sister by a smile or nod. And we work side
by side in silence without being at all uncharitable. The reason we
are not speaking to each other is because we, and also those around us,
are trying to be engaged in communing with God. This help toward
union with God has been stressed in all types of religious life
from the very beginning when men and women went out into the desert
to be alone with God. It is a tradition that has been adopted by
all religious founders and is common to all religious families.
Not everyone is capable of prospering in silence, and one of the purposes of the time of aspirancy and postulancy is to determine whether the candidate can grow spiritually in this environment. If it makes one irritable to be constantly restraining oneself in this practice, then perhaps God is not giving the grace of a monastic vocation. Newcomers to religious life usually have to come slowly to an appreciation of silence by learning gradually how to use well the time that is quiet. Young religious grow in love of silence by making serious efforts at stillness rather than communicating every thought that comes into their head and commenting on everything they notice or hear about. One learns to be silent by being silent, more than by talking about silence or reading about it.
But silence as a help to regular observance can sometimes be made into an end rather than a means. Charity is the essential, and silence the means to that end. There are times when silence is not the best thing at the moment. When another sister needs help or encouragement or instruction, when I need to ask directions about my work or some aspect of the life I am living, then is not the time to keep silent.
There is also an unhealthy and negative type of silence. Non- communication can express mute rebellion, obstinate refusal, deep resentment, passive aggression. By not speaking one can often avoid being challenged, avoid taking a stand, avoid the relationship that should be nurtured, avoid the demands of love. Or silence may be a sign of an underdeveloped personality, a suspicious, moody, morose, type of character. Or it could indicate a vacuum of indifference or be the sign of a haughty, aloof disinterestedness. Such silence is a selfish shutting-the-world-off, a withdrawal behind closed doors posted with a 'Do Not Disturb' sign.
Holy silence must be joyous, warm, embracing. It is only virtuous when practiced out of love for God and for others. It creates a climate that facilitates recollection and nurtures the fruits of recollection. It expresses an openness to others. Our silence is an attentiveness to the word of God that will be spoken to our heart. The word may be spoken softly, but it falls like a seed into the receptive soil of our silence. The word is retained by silence and is given a home where it can accomplish its work of transformation. The silent nun welcomes, gathers, and takes to heart the words of distress, the cries of pain, the pleas for help that rise from the suffering world. We in turn present these cries to God. Silence has always been the milieu in which the word of God has been heard most clearly and understood most completely.
We see how intrinsically silence is connected with the goal of monastic life - loving union with God through continual prayer - and we are committed to maintaining a prayerful and recollected atmosphere in the monastery. So love of silence should translate itself into concrete measures. There is what we call 'silence of action'. The level of physical noise in buildings can be reduced by little things like walking softly, closing doors quietly, closing windows and/or doors of the room where we are doing some necessarily noisy job like vacuuming or typing or printing, so the sound does not carry through the building.
There is a certain silence in the bodily dimension of the self that involves stilling those drives that may deaden our sensitivity to the word and silence of God. These drives are the desire for intense pleasure and sense satisfaction. This calls for some mortification of the pleasure appetite. We also need to discover personal ways of relaxing tense nerves and muscles to help toward this stillness. This may take the form of stretching exercises, yoga, brisk walking, or other exercises. These things help us to be able to sit still without compulsive fidgeting or falling asleep.
On the personal level of the self, the ego raises an inner clamor by its aggressive and ambitious drives, its tendency to manage, control and organize all of life for its own glory. Ego selfishness is the source of noisy disturbance both in one's own heart and in the community. It makes us ambitious or competitive, makes us collect things that act as security blankets, and makes us insist on our own rights and reputation. We will experience rest and stillness on this level only when we learn to let things be and to trust that our life is guided by a higher wisdom which invites us to surrender to its mysterious but loving ways.
In our relationships with others we must use silence and words well. We can also practice the silence of listening patiently and openly, with full attention, as another speaks to us, and letting her finish speaking before we respond.
The psalmist states the goal of perfect inner silence when he has the Lord say, 'Be still and know that I am God' (Ps 46). When I silence myself on the spirit level, I am at peace and at home in the presence of the Lord of my life. I have quieted the chattering of my imagination and memory in order to hold myself open to the Holy. I perceive a new richness and beauty in the everyday world about me. In silence I am content to absorb and appreciate all that happens without commenting on it - the contemplative stance. I listen more intently to the mystery of nature, letting aesthetic experience direct me toward the silent emptiness where God dwells in the depths of my heart.
God can be pictured, though inadequately, as wrapped in silence. We must be drawn into this wrapping, this cloud, to find God. The silent person lives in readiness to commune with the divine silence. Monastic silence in its fullest reality is not simply the absence of noise but the presence of a reality too great for expression. What does God do in silence? Often God does not do anything. God is simply there, in the fullness of loving mystery. We are aware of a vague presence in the silence, and this awareness is a typical form of the monastic contemplative experience.