Studying in the Quiet- Part III

Just a quick note- I will be away from computers from now until Sunday, continuing my questing for some further silence and contemplation. I will be celebrating our Mother's Feast with the brothers of Our Lady of Spring Bank, a Cistercian Abbey in Sparta, WI.

Ironically enough, this morning as I was francitcally trying to get ready to leave for the trip this commentary on today's gospel reading came in an e mail to me at work:

From Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), founder of the Missionaries of Charity A Simple Path, 1995, p.7-8

"Listen to what I say to you"

"We all must take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those
who live in big cities like London and New York, where everything moves so fast.
This is why I decided to open our first home for contemplative sisters (whose
vocation is to pray most of the day) in New York instead of the Himalayas: I
felt silence and contemplation were needed more in the cities of the world.

I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that
God speaks. God is the friend of silence – we need to listen to God because it's
not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul – as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul – and it brings you
closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see
God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others. When you have a
clean heart it means you are open and honest with God, you are not hiding
anything from Him, and this lets Him take what He wants from you."

Your prayers are appreciated and I will update this blog when I return. Thanks!