BOOK NOTES: THE WAY OF THE HEART pt. II -- SILENCE

#workinprocess #booknotes #bookreview #soulcare #henrinouwen

"Silence is the way to make solitude a reality... Silence is a very concrete, practical, and useful discipline in all our ministerial tasks. It can be seen as a portable cell taken with us from the solitary place into the midst of our ministry. Silence is solitude practiced in action" (p. 35-36).

Our Wordy World

"The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life. The word no longer offers trustworthy ground on which people can meet each other and build society" (p. 39).

Silence

"Silence is the home of the word. Silence gives strength and fruitfulness to the word. We can even say that words are meant to disclose the mystery of the silence from which they come" (p. 41).

"[Silence] keeps us pilgrims and prevents us from becoming entangled in the cares of this age. It guards the fire of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. It allows us to speak a word that participates in the creative and recreative power of God's own Word" (p. 50).

Silence Makes Us Pilgrims

"Would not many if not most of the words we use be better left unspoken? We speak about the events of the world, but how often do we really change them for the better? We speak about people and their ways, but how often do our words do them or us any good? We speak about our ideas and feelings as if everyone were interested in them, but how often do we really feel understood? We speak a great deal about God and religion, but how often does it bring us or other real insight?" (p. 44).

"Words often leave us with a sense of inner defeat. They can even create a sense of numbness and a feeling of being bogged down in swampy ground. Often they leave us in a slight depression, or in a fog that clouds the window of our mind. In short, words can give us the feeling of having stopped too long at one of the little villages that we pass on our journey, of having been motivated more by curiosity than by service. Words often make us forget that we are pilgrims called to invite others to join us on the journey" (p. 44).

Silence Guards the Fire Within

"Silence guards the inner heat of religious emotions. This inner heat is the life of the Holy Spirit within us... The soul, in its desire to say many things, dissipates its remembrance of God through the door of speech, even though everything it says may be good" (p. 45).

"People who prefer to keep to themselves and do not expose their interior life tend to create uneasiness and are often considered inhibited, asocial, or simply odd. But let us at least raise the question of whether our lavish ways of sharing are not more compulsive than virtuous; that instead of creating community, they tend to flatten out our life together" (p. 46).

"What needs to be guarded is the life of the Spirit within us. Especially we who want to witness to the presence of God's spirit in the world need to tend [to] the fire within with utmost care... Our first and foremost task is to faithfully care for the inward fire so that when it is really needed it can offer warmth and light to lost travelers" (p. 47).

Silence Teaches Us to Speak

"A word with power is a word that comes out of silence. A word that bears fruit is a word that emerges from the silences and returns to it. It is a word that reminds us of the silence from which it comes and leads us back to that silence. A word that is not rooted in silence is a weak, powerless word that sounds like a 'clashing symbol or a booming gong' (1 Corinthians 13:1)." (p. 49).

"All this is true only when the silence from which the word comes forth is not emptiness and absence, but fullness and presence, not the human silence of embarrassment, shame, or guilt, but the divine silence in which love rests secure" (p. 49).

"Out of His eternal silence, God spoke the Word, and through this Word created and re-created the world. In the beginning, God spoke the land, the sea, and the sky. He spoke the sun, the moon, and the stars. He spoke plants, birds, fish, animals wild and tame. Finally, He spoke man and woman. Then, in the fullness of time, God's Word, through whom all had been created, became flesh and gave power to all who believe to become the children of God. In all this, the Word of God does not break the silence of God, but rather unfolds the immeasurable richness of His silence" (p. 49).

The Ministry of Silence

"In order to be a ministry in the Name of Jesus, our ministry must also point beyond our words to the unspeakable mystery of God" (p. 52).

"One of our main problems is that in this chatty society, silence has become a very fearful thing. For most people, silence creates itchiness and nervousness. Many experience silence not as full and rich, but as empty and hollow. For them, silence is like a gaping abyss which can swallow them up... Imposed silence often creates hostility and resentment" (p. 52).

"But isn't the purpose of all ministry to reveal that God is not a God of fear but a God of love? And couldn't this be accomplished by gently and carefully converting the empty silence into a full silence, the anxious silence into a peaceful silence, and the restless silence into a restful silence, so that in this converted silence a real encounter with the loving Father could take place? What a power our word would have if it could enable people to befriend their silence!" (p. 53).

Silence and Preaching

"It is... possible for the word to be spoken in such a way that it slowly moves attention away from the pulpit to the heart of the listener and reveals there an inner silence in which it is safe to dwell... [this word], which at first might seem to be no more than an interesting metaphor, can slowly descend from the mind into the heart. There they may offer the context in which an inner transformation, by the God who transcends all human words and concepts, can take place" (p. 54).

Silence and Counseling

"It is... possible to experience the relationship between pastor and counselee as a way of entering together into the loving silence of God and waiting there for the healing Word. The Holy Spirit is called the divine Counselor. He is actively present in the lives of those who come together to discern God's will. This is why human counselors should see as their primary task the work of helping their parishioners to become aware of the movements of the divine Counselor and encouraging them to follow those movements without fear... Pastoral counseling is the attempt to lead fearful parishioners into the silence of God, and to help them feel at home there, trusting that they will slowly discover the healing presence of the Spirit" (p. 55).

Silence and Organizing

"Our task is the opposite of distraction. Our task is to help people concentrate on the real but often hidden event of God's active presence in their lives" (p. 56).

"Calling people together... means calling them away from the fragmenting and distracting wordiness of the dark world to that silence in which they can discover themselves, each other, and God. Thus organizing can be seen as the creation of a space where communion becomes possible and community can develop" (p. 56).