Genuine silence may proclaim that truth is not in the last analysis an idea or a proposition but a reality greater than any argument or matter of speech.
It was said that Abba Agathon lived for three years carrying a stone in his mouth until he had learned to keep silence.
Listen to the silence, for the silence is alive. It speaks through the darkness with a whisper.
Those who neglect silence bring only a distracted heart and a preoccupied mind to their prayer and, instead of deriving new strength from it, they only offer God a heart full of trifles. Intimate conversation with God is easily stifled if you do not first put an end to exterior chatter; yet, if you love silence and keep it well, your heart will be a temple where God will dwell and become known to you there.
~ St. Julia Billiart in WOMEN OF VISION compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart, thanks to Nancy Bock
