When I read this quote on Gerry Straub’s blog attributed to Mother Teresa I was struck by its similarity to a quote that I recently posted fromThomas Merton. I know how much my own growing longing for silence means to me. Later today I hope to visit Abbey of the Genesee, another place that thrives on silence.
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence. Is not our mission to give God to the poor in the slums? Not a dead God, but a living, loving God. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within; words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
-Mother Teresa of Calcutta
A Gift for God:
Prayers and Meditations
[New York: Harper, Row Publishers, Inc., 1975 – pages 68-69