Conversations With God: Silence

Eucharistic Adoration Chapel Dedication

To Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament;
to Mary, Mother of the Church, who was His first adorer;
to those visitors who come to this chapel:

to increase their awareness of the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament;
to draw closer to Him through this awareness;
to profess it through prayer, praise and adoration;
to bring greater honor and glory to God through the acknowledgement of their belief in the Real Presence.

Peace of Christ be with you.

Suggested Prayer #1:

Give Me Thy Grace

Give me Thy grace, good Lord, to set the world at naught, to set my mind fast upon Thee, and not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly company. Little and little utterly to cast off the world, and rid my mind of all the business thereof. Not to long to hear of any worldly things, but that the hearing of worldly fantasies may be to me displeasing. Gladly to be thinking of God. Piteously to call for His help. To lean unto the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him. To know my own vility and wretchedness. To humble and meeken myself under the mighty hand of God. To bewail my sins passed. For the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful of tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leadeth to life. To bear the cross with Christ.

To have the last thing in remembrance. To have ever afore mine eye my death that is ever at hand. To make death no stranger to me. To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of hell. To pray for pardon before the judge to come. To have continually in mind the Passion that Christ suffered for me. For His benefits incessantly to give Him thanks. To buy the time again that I before have lost. To abstain from the vain confabulations. To eschew light, foolish mirth and gladness. Recreations not necessary to cut off. Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life, and all, to set the loss at right naught for the winning of Christ. To think my worst enemies my best friends. For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred. These minds are more to be desired of every man, than all the treasures of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it gathered and laid together all upon one heap.

St. Thomas More

Catholic Prayer Book with Meditations
Father John A. Hardon, S.J.
Eternal Life, Bardstown, Kentucky
Copyright © 1999 Inter Mirifica Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Suggested Books:

Listening at Prayer
Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R.
Paulist Press, Mahwah, N.J.
	This is not a book with a method for prayer. It is about listening to God in such a way that when we understand what prayer truly is and where it is, we have "that" two-way communication that brings a response that will flow over into living a richer life. Silence is so necessary if we are to hear the message and listening is so necessary if we are to grasp the message.

Suggested Audio Cassette Programs:

"In Silence and in hope shall be our strength." (Isaiah 30:15)

Twelve Degrees of Holy Silence

Silence of Speech which is the most fundamental form of silence.
Bodily Silence which assists the soul in interior recollection.
Silence of the Senses which sets a guard over the gateways of our soul.
Silence of the Imagination which is necessary to bring to silence the unnecessary movements of the emotions, and the meaningless impressions of the fantasy.
Silence of the Memory. The past must come to silence, otherwise the soul will never come to itself.
Silence from Interior Conversations. The soul must withdraw itself into the deepest depths of that sanctuary where the inaccessible Majesty of the Holy of Holies dwells.
The Silence of the Heart which works so that the entire emotive life come to order and find its proper place.
Silence of Self-Love which is the silence of those who rejoice in their own lowliness.
Silence of the Spirit which silences the kind of self-seeking which only hinders the working of God.
Silence of Judgment which refrains not only from sinful harsh judgments of others, but to be reserved in one's own opinions.
Silence of the Will which silences the anxieties of the heart, the anguish of the soul, to place trust completely in God's loving Providence.
The Silence of Eternity which is the soul simply resting in God. This is no longer a silence which proceeds from the soul, rather the soul is in silence, because God has enveloped the soul entirely in Himself.

On Holy Silence
Three conferences given by Fr. Basil Nortz, ORC
Tapes may be obtained by writing to:
Opus Sanctorum Angelorum
13800 Gratiot Avenue
Detroit, MI 48205

"Be still and know that I am God."

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Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association
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Phone: 815-254-4420
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