De amore solitudinis et silentii.

The Call to Withdraw and Reflect

The reader is urged to set aside time for interior reflection, avoid idle distractions, and follow the saints who chose hiddenness with God.

Find a suitable time for yourself to be free, and reflect often on the gifts of God. Set aside idle curiosities; instead, read through subjects that stir compunction rather than mere busyness. If you withdraw yourself from excessive talk, from curious gossip, from novelties, and from the distractions of things you feel you must hear, you will find time enough and well-suited for dwelling on good meditations. The greatest of the saints avoided human company wherever they could, and chose to live in secret with God.

The Cost of Company and the Need for Hiddenness

Frequent conversation diminishes the soul; true spiritual progress requires withdrawal from the crowd, humility, obedience, and a good conscience.

"Every time I've been among other people, I've come back less of a person." We experience this more often the longer we spend in conversation. It's easier to stay silent than not to go too far with your words. It's easier to stay hidden at home than to keep a sufficient guard on yourself out in the world. So anyone who aims to reach what is interior and spiritual must turn away from the crowd together with Jesus. No one shows up securely unless they've willingly kept out of sight. No one commands securely unless they've learned to obey. No one rejoices securely unless they have the testimony of a good conscience.

Holy Confidence and the Danger of Presumption

The saints combined confidence in God with holy fear, whereas the wicked's confidence springs from pride and ends in despair; no one should promise themselves security in this life.

Yet the saints' confidence was always filled with the fear of God. Nor were they any less anxious and humble in their own eyes, because they shone forth with great virtues and grace.¹ But the confidence of the wicked arises from pride and presumption, and in the end it turns into despair of themselves. Never promise yourself security in this life, even if you seem to be a good monk or a good hermit.²

Temptations as Guardians Against Pride

Those esteemed by others are often endangered by overconfidence; temptations serve a protective purpose, and detachment from passing joys leads to peace.

Often those who seem better in other people's eyes have actually been put at greater risk by their own overconfidence. That's why it's far more helpful not to be completely free from temptations, but to be tested more often — so they don't grow too comfortable, so they don't perhaps be swept up into pride, and so they don't turn too eagerly toward outward comforts. If only a person would never chase passing pleasure, if only a person would never occupy themselves with the world — what a good conscience they would keep! If only a person would cut away every anxious distraction, think only about what is life-giving and about the things of God, and place all their hope in the Lord — what great peace and rest they would have!^✦

Compunction in the Cell

Heavenly consolation requires holy compunction; the cell, faithfully guarded, becomes a source of sweetness and comfort.

No one is worthy of heavenly consolation unless they have diligently exercised themselves in holy compunction. If you want to be pierced to the heart, go into your room and shut out the world's uproar. As it's written: 'In your chambers, be pierced.'^✦ In your cell you'll find what you so often lose when you're outside. A cell you keep to becomes sweet, and a cell guarded badly breeds weariness. If at the beginning of your life in community you've dwelt in it well and guarded it, afterward it'll be a beloved friend to you and a most welcome comfort.

Silence, Tears, and the Presence of God

In silence the soul progresses, learns Scripture, weeps in intimacy with God, and is drawn near by the Angels when it withdraws from the world.

In silence and stillness the devoted soul grows, and uncovers the hidden depths of Scripture. There the soul finds streams of tears with which, night after night, it can wash and cleanse itself — so that the further it lives from all worldly turmoil, the more intimate it becomes with its Creator.³ So whoever steps back from acquaintances and friends, God will draw near to that person with the holy Angels.⁴ It is better to stay hidden and attend to your own care than, neglecting yourself, to put on a show.⁵ It's praiseworthy for someone living a religious life to go out rarely, to avoid being seen, and to have no desire to be noticed by people.

The Vanity of Worldly Curiosity

Worldly pleasures and curiosities pass away, leaving only a guilty conscience and a scattered heart; fleshly delight ultimately destroys.

What do you want to see that you're not allowed to keep? The world passes away, and its desire with it.^✦ Sensual desires drag us out to roam. But once the hour has passed, what does it bring back except the weight of a guilty conscience and a scattered heart? A joyful departure often leads to a sad return, and a happy late-night vigil makes for a miserable morning. So every fleshly pleasure slips in smoothly, but in the end it gnaws and destroys.

Return to the Cell and to Jesus

Nothing under the sun endures; the reader is called to lift their eyes to God, abandon vain things, shut the door, and remain with Jesus in the cell.

What can you see anywhere that can last a single day under the sun? You may think you'll be satisfied, but you won't be able to reach that point. If you could see everything before you now, what would it be but a vain vision? Lift your eyes to God in the heights, and pray for your sins and your neglect. Let go of vain things — leave them to the vain. You, however, give your attention to what God has commanded you. Shut the door behind you, and call out to Jesus, your beloved. Stay with him in your cell, because you won't find such peace anywhere else. If you had not gone out and had heard nothing about rumors and gossip, you would have remained in a better peace. Since you sometimes delight in hearing new things, you must from then on endure the disturbance of heart that comes with it.

Read the original Latin

Quære aptum tempus vacandi tibi, de beneficiis Dei frequenter cogita. Relinque curiosa, tales potius perlege materias, quæ compunctionem magis præstent quam occupationem. Si te subtraxeris a superfluis locutionibus et curiosis circuitionibus nec non a novitatibus et remoribus audiendis, invenies tempus sufficiens et aptum bonis meditationibus insistendis. Maximi Sanctorum humana consortia ubi poterant vitabant et Deo in secreto vivere eligebant.

Dixit quidam: Quoties inter homines fui, minor homo redii. Hoc sæpius experimur, quando diu confabulamur. Facilius est enim tacere quam in verbo non excedere. Facilius est domi latere quam foris se posse sufficienter custodire. Qui igitur intendit ad interiora et spiritualia pervenire, oportet eum cum Jesu a turba declinare. Nemo secure apparet nisi qui libenter latet. Nemo secure præcipit nisi qui obedire didicit. Nemo secure gaudet nisi qui testimonium bonæ conscientiæ habet.

Semper tamen Sanctorum securitas plena timoris Dei extitit. Nec eo minus solliciti et humiles in se fuerunt, quia magnis virtutibus et gratia emicuerunt. Pravorum autem securitas ex superbia et præsumptione oritur et in fine in desperationem sui vertitur. Nunquam promittas tibi securitatem in hac vita, quamvis bonus videaris Coenobita, aut bonus Eremita.

Sæpe meliores in existimatione hominum magis periclitati sunt propter nimiam suam confidentiam. Unde multum utilius est, ut non penitus tentationibus careant, sed sæpius impugnentur ne nimium securi sint, ne forte in superbiam eleventur, ne etiam ad exteriores consolationes licentius declinent. O, qui nunquam transitoriam lætitiam quæreret, qui nunquam cum mundo se occuparet, quam bonam conscientiam servaret. O, qui omnem vanam sollicitudinem amputaret, et duntaxat salutaria ac divina cogitaret, et totam spem suam in Domino constitueret, quam magnam pacem et quietem possideret.

Nemo dignus est cælesti consolatione, nisi diligenter se exercuerit in sancta compunctione. Si vis corde tenus compungi, intra cubiculum tuum, et exclude tumultus mundi. Sicut scriptum est, In cubilibus vestris compungimini. In cella invenies, quod de foris sæpius amittes. Cella continuata dulcescit et male custodita tædium generat. Si in principio conversationis tuæ bene eam incolueris, et custodieris, erit postea tibi amica dilecta, et gratissimum solatium.

In silentio et quiete proficit anima devota, et discit abscondita Scripturarum. Ibi invenit fluenta lacrymarum, quibus singulis noctibus se lavet et mundet, ut Conditori suo tanto familiarior fiat, quanto longius ab omni sæculari tumultu degit. Qui ergo se substrahit a notis et amicis, approximabit illi Deus cum Angelis sanctis. Melius est latere et sui curam agere, quam se neglecto signa facere. Laudabile est homini religioso raro foras ire, fugere videri et nolle homines videre.

Quid vis videre, quod non licet habere? Transit mundus, et concupiscentia ejus. Trahunt desideria sensualitatis ad spatiandum. Sed cum hora transierit, quid nisi gravitatem conscientiæ, et cordis dispersionem portat? Lætus exitus tristem sæpe reditum parit et læta vigilia serotina triste mane facit. Sic omne carnale gaudium blande intrat, sed in fine mordet et perimit.

Quid potes videre alicubi, quod die potest sub solem permanere. Credis te forsitan satiari, sed non poteris pertingere. Si cuncta videres præsentia, quid esset, nisi visio vana? Leva oculos tuos ad Deum in excelsis, et ora pro peccatis tuis, et negligentiis. Dimitte vana vanis, tu autem intende illis, quæ tibi præcepit Deus. Claude super te ostium tuum, et voca ad te Jesum dilectum tuum. Mane cum eo in cella, quia non invenies alibi tantam pacem. Si non exisses nec quidquam de rumoribus audisses, melius in bona pace permansisses. Ex quo nova delectaris aliquando audire, oportet te exinde turbationem cordis tolerare.

Scripture echoes

↩Ps.131.2 — Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
↩Ps.4.5 — Be angry, and do not sin; speak in your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.
↩1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Notes

1 ↩eo minus: 'any less for that reason' — the ablative of degree/cause is rendered idiomatically.
2 ↩Coenobita and Eremita are loanwords retained as 'monk' and 'hermit' for natural modern English.
3 ↩The ut clause is rendered as purpose ('so that'), which best fits the devotional logic of the passage; a result reading is also grammatically possible.
4 ↩cum + Angelis rendered as accompaniment ('with the Angels'); a temporal reading ('when the Angels are present') is also possible but less natural in context.
5 ↩signa facere rendered idiomatically as 'put on a show' to capture the sense of outward display or spectacle-making; literally 'to make signs/signals.'