“.. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” – Matthew 12:36.
The Virtue Of Silence
2019-July-9 . . . By: ncdm
The Bible tells us that whenever Jesus wanted to communicate to the Father, he would retreat in isolation in a quiet place – in the serenity of silence. :[Matthew 14:23, and Matthew 26:39]: Only in silence that Jesus was able to totally immerse Himself in spiritual communion with the Father and receive His graces. Only in silence that Jesus can unbundle Himself in solitary companionship with the Father. Jesus let us understand that spirituality is in silence, that only with silence can spirituality be felt and experienced. Without silence, spirituality is hard to come by. Noise is devoid of spirituality.
“.. when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen, for HE sees everything that is done in secret.” – Matthew 6:5.
“.. if the soul is vigilant and withdraws from all distraction and abandons its own will, then the spirit of God invades it and it can conceive because it is free to do so.” – Saint Anthony of the Desert, [251-355, Egypt].
In today’s world of social media, people are crazy about the “likes”. They are almost always preoccupied with trying to be ‘liked’, and as such they need to talk a lot and catch attention, they need to be noisy. And all these noise are teeming with frivolity and pettiness, of idle words and ungodly junks, peppered with lies and conceit, as everyone tries to self-advertise and ‘be liked’, and be in that coveted trending line – the talk of the town. In this cacophony, almost everyone with a cellphone is mad, infected by this social plague. Indeed, it makes sense to say that the cellphone has overwhelmed man’s spiritual nature.
“. . the time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will rise up against him, saying that you are mad, because you are not like us.” – Saint Anthony of the Desert.
You can also consider this hip-hop culture among the younger generation as another affliction, being boldly cultivated by the movie and TV shows and personalities. Those mediums are the most powerful weapons of the antichrist, the Illuminati, in destroying the youth. In the pinnacle of their fame in the 1960s, the musical group the Beatles remarked, “we are more popular than Jesus Christ!” – and the world applauded.
“.. however, when Jesus comes, will he find faith on earth?” – Luke 18:8.
Indeed, the prophecies of the Saints are coming to fruition.
” toward the middle of the 1900s, the people of that time will become unrecognizable;
. . . . People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left;
. . . .. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society;
. . . ..At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, :[ NOTE: this is ‘Liberalism’, the main advocacy of the diabolical VATICAN II ]: people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time – they will completely lose their faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints.” — Saint Nilus of Sinai, 430 AD – [wikipedia].
The Bible has not talked much about silence. Jesus, and the Blessed Mother, must have seen this need to further silence, so they conveyed these messages to Saints Faustina and Catherine of Siena. Notice how beautifully composed and articulated these revelations are, proof that they were of Divine inspiration and guidance. Faustina only had four years of education, while Catherine only learned how to read and write when she was already sixteen years old.
…..” most of those who were called were not wise by human standards, not influential, not of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world so that no one may boast before him.” – 1 Corinthians 1:27.
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“God doesn’t talk to a noisy heart”
The following are passages from the DIARY of Saint Faustina.
…..” Today, I was talking with the Lord, and He said to me, There are souls with whom I can do nothing. They are souls that are continuously observing others, but know nothing of what is going on within their own selves. They talk about others continually, even during times of grand silence, which is reserved for speaking only with Me. Poor souls, they do not hear My words; their interior remains empty. They do not look for Me within their own hearts, but in idle talk, where I am never to be found. They sense their emptiness, but they do not recognize their own guilt, while souls in whom I reign completely are a constant source of remorse to them. Instead of correcting themselves, their hearts swell with envy, and if they do not come to their senses, they plunge in even deeper. A heart, which thus far is envious, now begins to be filled with hate. And they are already at the edge of the precipice. They are jealous of my gifts in other souls, but they themselves are unable and unwilling to accept them.” – DIARY, #1717.
…..” God does not give Himself to a chattering soul which, like a drone in a beehive, buzzes around but gathers no honey. A talkative soul is empty inside. It lacks both the essential virtues and intimacy with God. A deeper interior life, one of gentle peace and of that silence where the Lord dwells, is quite out of the question. A soul that has never tasted the sweetness of inner silence is a restless spirit which disturbs the silence of others. I have seen many souls in the depths of hell for not having kept their silence; they told me so themselves, when I asked them what was the cause of their undoing. These were souls of religious. My God, what an agony it is to think that not only might they have been in heaven, but they might even have become saints! O Jesus, have mercy!” – DIARY, #118.
…..” The tongue is a small member, but it does big things. A religious who does not keep silence will never attain holiness; that is, she will never become a saint. Let her not delude herself – unless it is the Spirit of God who is speaking through her, for then she must not keep silent. But, in order to hear the voice of God, one has to have silence in one‟s soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God. One can speak a great deal without breaking silence and, on the contrary, one can speak little and be constantly breaking silence. Oh, what irreparable damage is done by the breach of silence! We cause a lot of harm to our neighbor, but even more to our own selves;.
….. But, in order to hear the voice of God, one has to have silence in one‟s soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in god. One can speak a great deal without breaking silence and, on the contrary, one can speak little and be constantly breaking silence.” – DIARY, #118.
…..” Silence is a sword in the spiritual struggle. A talkative soul will never attain sanctity. The sword of silence will cut off everything that would like to cling to the soul. We are sensitive to words and quickly want to answer back, without taking any regard as to whether it is God‟s will that we should speak. A silent soul is strong; no adversities will harm it if it perseveres in silence. The silent soul is capable of attaining the closest union with God. It lives almost always under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God works in a silent soul without hindrance.” – DIARY, #477.
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Perseverance and Silence
The following are passages from the DIALOGUE of Saint Catherine Of Siena.
“.. The Devil often places himself upon the tongues of creatures, causing them to chatter nonsensically, with the purpose of preventing the prayer of the soul. All of this she should pass by, by means of the virtue of perseverance. Oh, how sweet and pleasant to that soul and to Me is holy prayer, made in the house of knowledge of self and of Me.;
. . ….. It also brings forth the deceitful heart that is neither pure nor liberal, but is double, making a man show one thing with his tongue, while he has another in his heart, and making him conceal the truth and tell lies for his own profit.”
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OTHER SOURCES:
Saint Anthony of the Desert – [wiscopts.net]