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times. Crowds, or the lack of them, have little to do with this

inward attentiveness. It is quite possible to be a desert hermitand never experience solitude' But if we possess inward solitude

we do not fear being alone, for we know that we are not alone'

Neither do we fear being with others, for they do not control

us. In the midst of noise and confusion we are settled into a

d."p i*.. silence. 'Whether alone or among people' we always

.rr.y *t tt us a portable sanctuary of the heart'Inward solitude has outward manifestations' There is the

freedom to be alone, not in order to be away from people but inorder to hear the divine Whisper better' Jesus lived in inward'heart solitude.'He also frequently experienced oufward solitude'

He inaugurated his ministry by spending forty days alone in the

desert (fratt .4:7-71).Before he chose the twelve he spent the

entire night alone in the desert hills (Luke 6:12)' When he

received Ih. ,r.*, ofJohn the Baptist's death' he'withdrew fromthere in a boat to a lonely place apart'(Matt' 7473)' After the

miraculous feeding of the five thousandJesus'went up into the

hills by himself ...,1ttr,t' 74:23)' Following a long night of*ork, :in the mornin g, a gteart while before day' he rose and

*.rrr'orr, to a lonely ptr.. ' ' '' (Mark 1:35)' 'When the twelve

returned from a pr"*"iri,,g and healing mission'Jesus instructed

them,'Com. ,*"y by yourselves to a lonely place' (Mark 6:31)'

Follo*irrg the healing of a leperJesus'withdrew to the wilder-ness and ir"y.d'pute S:f O;' 'With three disciples he sought outthe silen^ce of a lonely mountain as the stage for the trans-

figuration (Matt. 17:1-9). As he prepared for his highest and

,riost holy work, Jesus sought the solitude of the garden ofGethsemane (Matt. 26:3@6)'I could go on' but perhaps this is

sufficient ,o ,ho* that the seeklpg out of solitarY Places was a

regular practice for Jesus. So it sfiould be for us'

bi"tii.l Bonhoeffer in Life Tbgether titled one of his chapters

'The Day Together'and the fbllowing chapter'The Day Alone"

Both are essential for spiritual success' He writes"Let him whocannot be alone beware of community ' ' ' Let him who is not

The Discipline of Solitude.,

Settle yourself in solitude and vou will come ** i+:::'{i'{"*

Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude' The fear of being left"alone petrifies people. A new child in the neighbourhood sobs

to her mother,'No one ever plays with me" A college freshman

yearns for his high school days when he was the centre ofattention:'Now, I'm a nobody'' A business executive sits dejectedin her office,powerfi,rl,yet alone. An old woman lies in a nursinghome waiting to go'Home.'

Our fear of b.it g alone drives us to noise and crowds' We

keep up a constant stream of words even if they are inane' We

boy ,"&o, that strap to our wrists or fit over our ears so that' ifno one else is around, at least we are not condemned to silence'

T. S. Eliot analyseS our culture well when he writes"'Where shall

the world be found, where will the word resound? Not here'

there is not enough silence.'1But loneliness or clatter are not our only alternatives' 'We can

cultivate an inner solitude and silence that sets us free frorhloneliness and fear. Loneliness is inner emptiness' Solitude isinner fulfilment.

Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place.

There is a solitude of the heart that can be maintained at all

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in communiry beware of being alone . . . Each by itself hasprofound pitfalls and perils. one who wants fellowship withoutsolitude plunges into the void of words and Gelings, and onewho seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss ofvanity, self-infatuation, and despair.'2

Therefore, we must seek out the recreating stillness of solitudeif we want to be with others meaningfully. 'We must seek thefellowship and accountability of others if we want to be alonesafely. We must cultivate both if we are to live in obedience.

SOLITUDE AI\D SILENCE

\Mithout silence there is no solitude. Though silence sometimesinvolves the absence of speech, it always involves the act oflistening. Simply to refrain from talking, without a heart risteningto God, is not silence.'A day filted with noise and voices can be aday ofsilence, ifthe noises become for us the echo of the presenceof God, if the voices are, for us, messages and solicitatiomof God.When we speak of ourselves and are filled with ourselves, ,weleave silence behind. when we repear the intimate words of God.that he has left within us, our silence remains intact.,3

We must undentand the connection between inner solitudeand inner silence; they are inseparable. All the masters of theinterior liG speak of the two in rhe same breath. For exarnple,The Imitation oJ Christ,wlich has been the unchallenged master-piece ofdevotional literature for five hundred years, has a sectiontided'On the Love of Solitude and Silence.,Dietrich Bonhoeffermakes the two an inseparable whole in Life Tbgether as doesThomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude.In fact,I wrestled forsome time trylng to decide whether to title this chapter theDiscipline of solitude or the Discipline of silence, so closehconnected are the two in the great devotional literature. Ofnecessiry therefore, we must come to understand and experierrcethe transforrning power of silence if we are to know solitude,

There is an old proverb ro the effect that.all those who open

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their mouths, close their eyes!' The purpose of silence andsolitude is to be able to see and hear. Control rather than nonoise is the key to silence.James saw clearly that the person whocould control his tongue is perfect (James 3:7-1,2). under theDiscipline of silence and solitude we learn when to speak andwhen to refrain from speaking. The person who views theDisciplines as laws will always turn silence into an absurdiry:'I'11not speak for the next forty days!' This is always a severetemptation to any true disciple who wants to live under silenceand solitude. Thomas i'Kempis writes,'It is easier to be silentaltogether than to speak with moderation.'a The wise preacherofEcclesiastes says that there is'a time to keep silence and a timeto speak' (Eccles.3:7). Control is the key.

James' analogies of the rudder and the bridle suggest to usthat the tongue guides as well as controls. The tongue guidesour course in many ways. If we tell. a lie, we are led to tellingmore lies to cover up the first lie. Soon we are forced to behavein a certain way in order to give credence to the lie. No wonderJames declares that'the tongue'is a fire' (James 3:6).

The disciplined person is the person who can do what needsto be done when it needs to be done. The mark of a champion-ship basketball team ii a team that can score points when theyare needed. Most of us can get the ball into the hoop eventually,but we can't do it when it is needed. Likewise, a person who isunder the Discipline of silence is a person who can say whatneeds to be said when it needs to be said.'A word fidy spokenis like apples of gold in a setting of silver'(Prov.25:11). If we aresilent when we should speak, we are not living in the Disciplineof silence. If we speak when we should be silent, we again missthe mark. f ., rTHE SACRIFICE OF FOOLS

In Ecclesiastes we read,'To draw near to listen is better than tooffer the sacrifice of fools'(Eccles.5:1). The sacrifice of fools is

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humanly initiated religious talk. The preacher continues,'Be notrash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a

word before God, for God is in heaven, and you uPon earth;therefore let your words be few' (Eccles. 5:2).

WhenJesus took Peter,James, andJohn up to the rnountdinand was transfigured before them, Moses and Elijah appearedand carried on a conversation with Jesus. The Greek text goeson to say,'And answeing, Peter said to them . . . if you will I willmake here three shelters . . .'(Matt. 17:4, [italics added]). That isso telling. No one was even speaking to Peter. He was offeringthe sacrifice of f6ols.

John Woolman'sJournal contains a moving and tender accountof learning control over the tongue. His words are so graphicthat they are best quoted in fuIl:

'I went to meetings in an awful frame of mind, and endeav-oured to be inwardly acquainted with the language of thetrue Shepherd. One day, being under a strong exercise ofspirit, I stood up and said some words in a meeting; but notkeeping close to the Divine opening, I said more than wasrequired of me. Being soon sensible of my error, I wasaflicted in mind some weeks, without any light or comfort,ev€n to that degree that I could not take satisfaction inanything. I remetnbered God, and was troubled, and in thedepth of my distress he had pity upon rne, and sent theComforter. I then felt forgiveness for my offence; my mindbecame calm and quiet, and I was truly thankful to mygracious Redeemer for his mercies. About six weeks afterthis, feeling the spring of Divine love opened,ar,d a concernto speak, I said a few words in a meeting, in which I foundpeace. Being thus humbled and disciplined under the cross,my understbnding became more strengthened to distinguishthe pure spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart,.andwhich taught me to wait in silence sometimes many weekstogether, until I felt that rise which prepares the creature to

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stand like a trumpet, through which the Lord speaks to his

flock.'s

What a description of the learning process one goes throughin the Discipline of silence! Of particular significance was

woolman,s increased ability from this experience to'distinguishthe pure spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart''

one reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that itmakes us feel so helpless. 'We are so accustomed to relying uponwords to manage and control others. If we are silent, who willtake control? God will take control, but we will never let himtake control until we trust him. silence is intimately related totrust.

The tongue is our most powerfirl weapon of manipulation' Afrantic stream ofwords flows from us because we are in a constant

process of adjusting our public image' We fear so deeply whatwe think other people see in us that we talk in order to straightenout their undeistanding. If I have done some wrong thing (oreven some right thing that I think you ruly misuirderstand) and

discover that you know about it,I will be very tempted to helpyou understand my action! Silence is one of the deepest Disci-plines of the Spirit simply because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.

One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be ourjustifier. We dont need to straighten others out' There is a storyof a medieval inonk who was being unjustly accused of certainoffences. One day he looked out his window and saw a dog

biting and tearing on a rug that had been hung out to dry As he

watched, the Lord spoke to him saying,'That is what is happen-ing to your reputation. But if you will trust me, I will care foryo"o - t"p"trtio, ard all.'Perhaps firore than anything€lse, silence

trings us to believe that God can care for us -'reputation and

all.'George Fox often speals of 'the spirit of bondage'and how

the world lays in that spirit. Frequently he identifies the spirit of

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bondage with the spirit of subservience to other human beings.It his Journal he speaks of 'bringing people off of men,' awayfrom that spirit ofbondage to law through other human beings.And silence is one way of bringing us into this liberation.

The tongue is a thermometer; it gives us our spiritualtemperature. It is also a thermostat; it regulates our spiritualtemperature. Control of the tongue can mean everything. Havewe been set free so that we can hold our tongue? Bonhoefferwrites,'Real silence, real stillness, really holding one's tonguecomes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness.'6 St

-Dominic is repgted to have visited St Francis, and throughoutthe entire meeting neither spoke a single word.O.,ly when welearn to be truly silent are we able to speak the word that isneeded when it is needed.

Catherine de Haeck Doherry writes,'A1l in me is silentand . . . I am immersed in the silence of God.'7 It is in solitudethat we come to experience the'silence of God' and so receivethe inner silence that is the craving of our hearts.

THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

To take seriously the Discipline of solitude will mean that atsome point or points along the pilgrimage we will enter whatSt John of the Cros vividly describes as 'the dark night of thesoul.' The'dark night'to which he calls us is not something bador destructive. On the contrary, it is an experience to bewelcomed much as a sick person might welcome a surgery thatpromises health and well-being. The purpose of the darkness isnot to punish or to aflict us. It is to set us free- It is a divineappointment, a privileged opportunity to draw close to thedivine Centre. St John calls it 'sheer grace,' adding:

O guiding night!O night more lovely than the dawn!

O night that has united

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The Lover with His beloved,Tfansforming the beloved in her Lover.s

'What does the dark night of the soul involve? We may havea sense of dryness, aloneness, even lostness. Any overdependenceon the emotional life is stripped away. The notion, often heardtoday,that such experiences should be avoided and that we alwaysshould live in peace and comfort,joy, and celebration only betraysthe fact that much contemporary experience is surface slush.The dark night is one of the ways God brings us into a hush, a

stillness so that he may work an inner transformation upon thesoul.

How is this dark night expressed in daily life? When solitudeis seriously pursued, there is usually a flush of initial successand then an inevitable letdown - and with it a desire toabandon the pursuit altogether. Feelings leave and there is thesense that we are not getting through to God. St John of theCross describes it this way, '. . . the darkness of the soulmentioned here . . . puts the sensory and spiritual appetites'tosleep . . .It binds the imagination and impedes it from doingany good discursive work. It makes the memory ceabe, theintellect become dark and unable to understand anything, andhence it causes the will also to become arid and constrained,and all the faculties empty and useless. And over all this hangsa dense and burdensome cloud which aflicts the soul and keepsit withdrawn from God.'e

T\rice in his poem 'Canciones del Alma' St John of the Crossuses the phrase,'My house being now all stilled.'lo In this graphicline he indicates the importance of dlowing all the physical,emotional, psychological, even spiritual senses to be silenced.Every distraction of the body, mi6d, and spirit must bb put intoa kind of suspended animation before this deep work of Godupon the soul can occur. It is like an operation in which theanaesthetic must take effect before the surgery can be performed.There cornes inner silence, peace, stillness. During such a time

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Bible reading, sermons, intellectud debate - all fail to move orexcite us.

When God lovingly draws us into a dark night of the soul,there is often a temptation to seek release from it and to blameeveryone and everything fbr our inner dullness. The preacher issuch a bore. The hymn singing is too weak. The worship serviceis so dull. We may begin to look around for another church ora new experience to give us'spiritual goose bumps.' This is aserious mistake. Recognise the dark night for what it is. Begrateful that God is lovingly drawing you away from every

'distraction so tfrat you can see him clearly. Rather than chafingand fighting, become still and wait.

I am not referring here to the dullness to spiritual things thatcomes as a result of sin or disobedience, but I am speaking of theperson who is seeking hard after God and who harbours noknown sin in his heart.

'W'ho among you fears the Loxoand obeys the voice of his servant,

who wall<s in darkness' and has no light,yet trusts in the name of the Loxo

and relies upon his God? (Isa.50:10, [itdics added])

The point of the biblical passage is that it is quite possible tofear, obey, trust, and rely upon the Lord and still'walk in darknessand have no light.' .We are living in obedience but we haveentered a dark night ofthe soul.

St John of the Cross indicates that during this e4periencethere is a gracious protection from vices and a wonderfirl advancein the things of the kingdom of God.'. . . a person at the timeof these darknesses . . . will see clearly how little the appetiteiand faculties are distracted with useless and harmfirl things andhow secure he is from vainglory from pride and presumption,from an empty and false joy, and from many other evils. By

Tnr DrscrpuNr or Sorrruor

walking in darkness the soul . . . advances rapidly, because it thusgains the virtues.'11

What should we do during such a time of inward darkness?First, disregard the advice of well-meaning friends to snap outof it. They do not understand what is occurring. Our age is soignorant of such things that I recommend that you not even talkabout these matters. Above all, do not try to explain or justifywhy you may be 'out of sorts.' God is your justifier; rest yourcase with him. If you can actually withdraw to a'desert place'for a season, do so. If not, go about your daily tasks. But whetherin the 'desert' or at home, hold in your heart a deep, inner,listening silence and there be still until the work of solitude isdone.

Perhaps StJohn of the Cross has been leading us into deeperwaters than we care to go. Certainly he is talking about a realmthat most of us see only 'through a glass darkly.' Yet we do notneed to censure ourselves for our timidiry to scale these snowypeaks of the soul. These matters are best approached cautiously.But perhaps he has stirred within us a drawing towards higherand deeper experiences, no matter how slight the tug. It is likeopening the door of our lives ever so slightly to this realm. Thatis all God asks, and all he needs.

To conclude our journey into the dark night of the soul, letus ponder these powerful words of our spiritual mentor:'Oh,then, spiritual soul, when you see your appetites darkened, yourinclinations dry and constrained, your faculties incapacitated forany interior exercisen do not be aflicted; think of this as a grace,since God is freeing you from yourself and taking from youyour own actiitty.'12

.kSTEPS INTO SOLITIJDE i !.,

The Spiritual Disciplines are things that we do. 'We must neverlose sight of this fact. It is one thing to talk piously about 'thesolitude of the heart,'but if that does not somehow work its way

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into our experience, then we have missed the point of theDisciplines. 'We are dealing with actions, not merely states ofmind. It is not enough to say, ''Well, I am most certainly inpossession of inner solitude and silence; there is nothing that Ineed to do.' All those who have come into the living silenceshave done certain things, have ordered their lives in a particularway so as to receive this'peace that passes all understanding.'Ifwe are to succeed, we must pass beyond the theoretical into lifesituations.' '\X/hat are sorrle steps into solitude?. The first thing we can dois to take advantage of the 'little solitudes' that fill our day.

Consider the solitude of those early morning moments in bedbefore the family awakens. Think of the solitude of a morningcup of coffee before beginning the work of the day. There is thesolitude of bumper-to-bumper traffic during the rush hour.There can be litde moments of rest and refreshment when weturn a corner and see a flower or a tree. Instead ofvocal prayerbefore a meal consider inviting everyone to join into a fewmoments of gathered silence. Once while driving a car-load ofchattering children and adults, I exclaimed,'Lett play a gameand see if everyone can be absolutely quiet until we reach theairport' (about five minutes awar. It worked, blessedly so. Findnew joy and meaning in the little wdk from the subway to yourapartment. Slip outside just before bed and taste the silent night.

These tiny snatches of time are often lost to us' What a piry!They can and should be redeemed. They are times for innerquiet, for reorienting our lives like a compass needle. They are

little moments that help us to be genuinely present where weare.

'W'hat else can we do? We can find or develop a'quiet place'designed for silence and solitude. Homes are being built con-stantly. Why not insist that a litde inner sanctuary be put intothe plans, a srnall place where any family meniber could go tobe alone and silent? What's to stop us? The money? We buildelaborate playrooms and family rooms and think it well worth

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j130

Tnu DrscrPrrNs oE SouruPE

the expense. Those who already own a home could considerenclosing a little section of the garage or patio. Those who livein an apartment could be creative and find other ways to allowfor solitude. I know of one family that has a special chair;whenever anyone sits in it he or she is saying,'Please dont botherme, I want to be alone.'

Let's find places outside the home: a spot in a park, a churchsanctuary qhat is kept unlocked, even a storage closet somewhere'A retreat centre near us has built a lovely one-person cabinspecifically for private meditation and solitude. It is called'TheQuiet Place.' Churches invest millions of dollars in buildings'How about constructing one place where an individual cancome to be alone for several days? Catherine de Hueck Doherryhas pioneered in developing 'Poustinias' (a Russian wordmeaning'desert') in North America. These are places specificallydesigned for solitude and silence.*

In the chapter on study we considered the importance ofobserving ourselves to see how often our speech is a franticattempt to explain and justify our actions. Having seen this inourselves, let's experiment with doing deeds without any wordsof explanation whatever. 'We note our sense of fear that peoplewill misunderstand why we have done what we have done' Weseek to allow God to be our justifier.

Lett discipline ourselves so that our words are few and full'Let's become known as people who have something to say whenwe speak. Let's maintain plain speech: do what we say we willdo.'It is better that you should not vow than that you shouldvow and not pay'(Eccles.5:5). When our tongue is under ourauthority the words of Bonhoeffer become true of us: 'Muchthat is unnecessary remains unSid. But the essent{4l and thehelpful thing can be said in a few words.'13

* The story of the development of these centres is described in herbook, Poustinia: Christian Spirituality of the East for Western Man,London: Rolunt,'1,977.

131

Go anorher,,', ;;;":;. ;:ay without words arall. Do it not as a law, but as an experiment. Note your feelingsof helplessness and excessive dependence upon words to com-municate. Try to find new ways to relate to others that are notdependent upon words. Enjoy, savour the day. Learn from it.

Four times a year withdraw for three to four hours for thepurpose of reorienting your life goals. This can easily be done inone evening. Stay late at your office or do it at home or find aquiet corner in a public library. Reevaluate your goals andobjectives in liG. 'What do you wanr to have accomplished one

- year from noy? Ten years from now? Our tendency is tooverestimate what we can accomplish in one year and under-estimate what we can accomplish in ten years. Set realistic goalsbut be willing to dream, to stretch. (This book was a dream inmy mind for several years before it became a reality.) In thequiet of those brief hours, listen to the thunder of God's silence.Keep a journal record of what comes to you.

Reorientation and goal setting do not need to be cold andcalculating as some suppose. Goals are discovered, not made.God delights in showing us exciting new alternatives for thefuture. Perhaps as you enter into a listening silence the joyfulimpression to learn how to weave or how to make potteryemerges. Does that sound too earthy, too unspiritual a goal?God is intendy interested in such matters. Are you? Maybe youwill want to learn and experience more about the spiritual giftsof miracles, healing, and tongues. Or you may do as one of myfriends: spend large periods of time experiencing the gift ofhelps, learning to be a servant. Perhaps this next year you wouldlike to read all the writings of C. S. Lewis or D. Elton tueblood.Mryb. five years from now you would like to be qualified towork with handicapped children. Does choosing these goalssound like a sales manipulation game? Of course not. It is merelysetting a direction for your life. You are going to go somewhereso how much better to have a direction that has been set bycomrnunion with the divine Centre.

Tur Drscrprrxr or Sorrruor

lJnder the Discipline of study we explored the idea of studyretreats of two or three days' duration. Such experiences areheightened when they are combined with an inner immersioninto the silence of God. Like Jesus, we must go away frompeople so that we can be truly present when we are withpeople. Take a retreat once a year with no other purpose inmind but solitude.

The fruit of solitude is increased sensitivity and compassionfor others. There comes a new freedom to be with people. Thereis new attentiveness to their needs, new responsiveness to theirhurts. Thomas Merton observes,'It is in deep solitude that I findthe gendeness with which I can truly love my brothers. Themore solitary I am the more affection I have for them . . .

Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what theyare, not for what they say'1a

Don't you feel a tug, a yearning to sink down into the silenceand solitude of God? Don't you long for something more?Doesnt every breath crave a deeper, fuller exposure to hisPresence? It is the Discipline of solitude that will open the door.You are welcome to come in and'listen to Godt speech in hiswondrous, terrible, gende, lowing, all-embracing silence.' 1s

FOR STUDY

Henri Nouwen has noted that,'Without solitude it is virtuallyimpossible to live a spiritual life.' Why is this so? Because insolitude we are freedJrom our bondage to people and our innercompulsions, and we are freed /o love God and know compassionfor others.

To enter solitude we must disregard what others think of us.Who will understand this call {5 ,lgr.rr.ss? Even {!ur closestfriends will see it as a terrible waste of precious time and asrather selfish and self-centred. But, oh, what liberry is released inour hearts when we let go of the opinions of others! The less weare mesmerised by human voices, the more we are able to hear

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the divine Voice. The less we are bound by others'expectations,the more we are open to God's expectations.

But in solitude we die not only to others but also ourselves.To be sure, at first we thought solitude was a way to rechargeour batteries in order to enter lifet many competitions withnew vigour and strength. In time, however, we found thatsolitude did not give us power to win the rat race; on theconffary, it taught us to ignore it altogether. Slowly, we foundourselves letting go of our inner compulsions to win and ourfrantic efforts to attain. In the stillness our false, busy selves were-unmasked and pen for the impostors they truly were.

It is out of our liberation from others and self that our earsbecome open to hear and our eyes unveiled to see the goodnessof God. 'We can love God because we do not have to love theworld. Through our solitude an open inner space has beencreated through which God finds us. In solitude we experiencea second (and third, and fourth, and fifth . . .) conversion. In adeeper more profound way we turn from the idols of themarketplace to the glory of God in the face ofJesus Christ. Godtakes this useless discipline, this wasted time, to make us Hisfriend.

A happy by-product of becoming the friend of God is anincreased compassion for others. Once we have peered into theabyss of our own vaniry we can never again look at the strugglesof others with condescending superiority. Once we have facedthe demons of despair in our own aloneness, we can never againpass offlighdy the quiet depression and sad loneliness of thosewe meet. We become one with all who hurt and are afraid. Weare free to give them the greatest gift we possess - the gift ofourselves.

The private retreat is one way to nurture solitude. Earlier Ishared several ideas regarding what to do'in a private retreat;however, it is of utmost importance that we do not lose sight ofour major work on retreat. It can be said in one word -PRAYER. We enter the terrifying silences to listen to God, to

TnE DrScrpuxr or Sorrruor

experience communion. This purpose needs to be kept beforeus because, at first, time thus spent will seem so useless, so wasted.We will soon be severely tempted to make 'good use of ourtime'by reading many books or writing many pages. What wemust clearly understand and underscore is that our real task onretreat is to create a space in our lives where God can reach us.Once that space has been created we wait quiedy, expectandy,for the work from this point on belongs to God. And I havefound Him most eager to usher us into the Holy of Holies andshare with us the glories of the Kingdom of God.

In Fruits oJ Solitude 'W.illiam Penn observed that solitude is'Aschool few care to learn in, tho'none instructs us better'. Maywe be among the few that care to learn through this mercifirlmeans of God's grace.

Daily Scripture Readings

Sunday - The freedom to control the tongue.James 3:1-l2,Llke 23:6-9

Monday - Prayer and solitude. Matthew 6:5-6, Luke 5:16Titesday - The insights of solitude. Psalm 8Wednesday - The dark night of the soul.Jeremiah 20:7-78Thursday - The solitude of the garden. Matthew 26:36-46Friday - The solitude of the cross. Matthew 27:32-50Saturday - The compassion that comes from solitude.

Matthew 9:35-38,23:37

Study Questions

1 'What is the difference between loneliness and solitude?Which do you experience $ore? ii

2 'Why do we need both solitude and communiry in order tofunction with spiritual success?

3 'Why do you think that solitude and silence are so closelyconnected?

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4 'What is the'sacrifice of fools'? Have you ever been guilty?5 Have you ever had any e4perience akin to Catherine de

Hueck Doherty's,'All in me is silent and . . .I am immersedin the silence of God'? If so you might want to share it withsomeone, if not you might want to ponder the reason forthe lack.

6 Have you ever experienced a 'dark night of the soul'?7 I mention five possible steps into solitude. Which one would

you find most helpful at this point in your life?8 'What keeps you from solitude?9 'lVhat pragtical reordering of your liG could be done in

order to create more space for God?10 'What experience in solitude would you like to have, two

years from now, that you do not presendy possess? Wouldyou be willing this week to plan it into your schedule forsome time in the next twenty-four months?

Sugestions Jor Furiher Reading

Doherty, Catherine de Hueck, Poustinia: Chistian Spirituality oJthe EastJor Western Man,London: Fount, 1,977. Asensitive andhighly applicable fiscussion of how'Western culture can findspace for the life of solitude.

Dunne,John 5., The Reasons of the Heart,London; SCM Press,1978. A journey into solitude and back again, examining theway Christian faith might transform pain and loneliness.

Maloney, George A., S.J., Alone with the Alone, Notre Dame,USA: Ave Maria Press, 1982. Helps the individual enter intothe experience of God - the Alone - through the format ofan eight-day retreat.

Waddell, Helen, trans., The Desert Fathers,London: Constable &Co, 1.987 . Contains many of the wise sayrngs of the DesertFathers as well as the stories of their experiences.

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B

The Discipline of Submission

A Christian is a perfealy free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is

, a perfeetly dutful seruant of all, subject to all.- Martin Luther

Of all the Spiritual Disciplines none has been more abused thanthe Discipline of submission. Sornehow the human species hasan extraordinary knack for taking the best teaching and turningit to the worst ends. Nothing can put people into bondage likereligion, and nothing in religion has done more to manipulateand destroy people than a deficient teaching on submission.Therefore, we must work our way through this Discipline withgreat care and discernment in order to ensure that we are theministers of life, not death.

Every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. If I haveschooled myself in the art of rhetoric, I am free to deliver amoving speech when the occasion requires it. Demosthenes wasfree to be an orator only because he had gone through thediscipline of speaking above the ocean roar with pebbles in hismouth. The purpose of the Disfrplines is freedom. Our aim isthe freedom, not the Discipline. The moment we make theDiscipline our central focus, we turn it into law and lose thecorresp onding freedom.