The Rule has an entire chapter, in fact, devoted to silence, under the Latin title De Taciturnitate, which can best be translated perhaps as Reticence in Speech.  In the course of this chapter Bene­dict recommends that permission to speak be given rarely even to the best of monks.  When the monks do speak they are to do so, he adds, Awith all humility and subjection of reverence.@  If we wish to live out the spirit of our way of life we must give considerable attention to these rec­ommendations for they are not mere afterthoughts, but essential elements in our way of life and are intended to form attitudes that we carry over in our relations with one another as well as with our superiors. Monks do not assume demanding ways or express themselves with aggressive language to one another, above all not to their superiors, according to Benedict who refers here explicitly to the duty to address the superior with all reverent subjection of speech as well as of heart.  This can be very difficult to do when there is question of something we have strong feel­ing about, but it is precisely for such occasions that the Rule is given us as an aid to overcoming our weaknesses and developing good habits. In our last class I spoke at considerable length about the healing power and the beneficial spiritual effects of a truly personal contact with others. I had thought it was evident what the implications of this fact are for monastic living but from the questions asked it appeared that such is not at all the case. In this context of spiritual exchange and of the meaning of silence for monks let us reflect further on this question. 

You will recall that in discussing the healings resulting from the treatments by Dr. Scott Peck I had pointed out that in my opinion the most effective element had not been touched upon. That healings of emotional problems whether effected in psychotherapy, in counseling, in spiritual direction or simply through mediation and prayer always involve a factor that goes beyond the emotions and behavior concerned in the problems. Dr. Peck himself clearly stands in agreement with this view and later on in his discussion of cases he takes up the issue of personal involvement between the therapist and the patient.   This was the very issue I had raised: that only spirit truly heals the person. That every far- reaching advance in the ability to relate to others and to deal more productively with the emotions involved in interpersonal exchanges is effected by some intervention by the specifically personal, and so is in some sense specifically spiritual. The individual as person must be touched and in some measure receive a healing communication for there to be effective healing even in the lower powers, that is to say the psyche. This is another way of saying that only the transcendental has life-giving power. 

Now I had thought it obvious that what this implies is that monks are to go about their monastic life in such a way as to bring to each of our personal contacts such of this transcendental element as lies in our power to effect. This, however, is far from obvious to everyone, understandably, now that I think about it more. I recall how much struggle and how many years it require for me to actually experience the reality of the personal dimension of human relations in any perceptible way. The reality is continually operative but at an unconscious level of life. Only through steady, strenuous and persistent efforts to clarify the levels of our inner life, working our way through the emotional resistances to insight into our defects can we liberate our personality so as to enable us to put our self at the service of others. Such personalizing of life does not occur without suffering, persistent and faithful effort and repeated efforts to go out to others. It is not enough to live according to the externals of the Rule and to observe the usages, At the same time, we must engage in this daily search for a more personal knowledge of God through entering into the deeper, hidden places of the heart by confronting our inner reactions, pleasant and difficult, if we would come to that connatural knowledge of him that is implied in the relation St. Benedict had with his friend Abbot Servandus.  This kind of mutual sharing in the spirit is possible only to those who make it their serious business to enter into the hidden places of their own heart where the Spirit communicates with them.   This work can be carried through only with strenuous and courageous effort for it involves penetrating into and beyond the emotional layers of experience, in which we have invested much of previous life. We cannot bring about such a purification of the soul merely by controlling our feelings and still less by denying their very existence. We must learn to identify and specify quite exactly what emotions actually motivate us; which ones stand in the way of our responding in truth and justice. 

Once we learn to do this with the help of grace, we can communicate something of the transcendent spirit to others in the most ordinary exchanges.  To share this deepest dimension of our self we must have opened our self to the hidden places in our depths where the Spirit reveals just who the Lord is for us. He shows us in that very revelation what we must and can do in order to become more suited to be his  In this penetration to the deeper leels of events as they impinge upon our consciousness we learn to take th light of the Spirit as our guide. We have in his active communications an inner light that expands our inner horizon so that our regular way of perceiving life and eents includes their relation to God. We develop a taste for God. St. Augustine uses this expression in his Soliloquies (I.1.3, op. cit. , 870). ’God who are wisdom, in whom and from whom and through whomall who have taste, taste (‘sapiunt’, that is, ‘are wise’).  

We come to grasp that all things transpire within God’s presence and fit within hi plan. Nothing escapes the active care of the Creator, nothing evades his power. The result of this sensitivity is to personalize experience, that is to render us aware that we are always acting in relation to the Divine Persons. Silence but makes possible the cultivation of such habits of attentiveness to God and to the various areas and levels of our own self. As we grow in perceptiveness to this invisible and always operative reality we naturally discern it in the persons and events we deal with. 

Inevitably this will result in our dealing with one another with a lqrger measure of consideration. We will find it quite natural to speak with respect for the feelings of our brother, whether he is present or not. Such personal alertness gives rise to a clearer sense of what we can contribute to be of assistance to others.  We will spontaneously sense when it is more helpful to remain silent, to give our brother the space he needs for pursuing his own proper path. In summary, it is by living faithfully the various usages and activities that make up our Cistercian life with a particular concern to recognize our personal way of making our contribution. Taking time daily to review our inner experience so as to penetrate further into the deeper layers of our emotiona and to come to understand better our character ill make it possible for us to find ways of improving our personal relations with others. As we engage in this kind of pursus into God’s sharing of his graces with us. 

This personal manner of approaching monastic life is the most fruitful way we can expend our efforts and use our energy in seeking God in the spirit of our Cistercian fathers. They understood quite distinctly that in thus personalizing their experiences in the monastery they became capable of forming the kinds of relationship among themselves that Benedict cultivated with his friend, Abbot Servandus. They themselves tell us how much they encouraged one another by imitating the example of these intimate friends. THERE WAS A POURING OUT OF SWEET WORDS OF LIFE BETWEEN THEM, THE DELICIOUS HEAVENLY FOOD… Because they could not yet fully enjoy the delicious food of the heavenly homeland, they might at least taste of it amidst their sighs.’...(S. P. Benedicti, Prolegomena ex Grégoire le Grand: Dialogues Paris 1866, 157) These words of Pope Gregory the Great applies no less to Saints Bernard and Bl. William of St. Thierry. They are intended to encourage us to follow in this same approach to monstic life. May we learn their lesson and make this advice a guide for our lives in the assurance that men who know themselves and understand how to speak to one another of the things of God, help one another to prepare themselves for the vision of Divine light.  It is in this light that, as Benedict learned, all things of this world are seen as small and beneath us who are called to be children of God in the eternal kingdom of the Father.