Thirty-three years George Maloney published his little book, Inward Stillness (Denville, NJ: Dimension, 1976); from my dog-eared copy I share this lightly edited (for more inclusive language) notice:Silence is the interior air that the spirit of man needs in order to grow spiritually. Such silence leads us into the inner recess and there his Heavenly Father will recompense him (Matt.6:6). This recompensing comes to us in the healing of psychic disturbances, the chaotic meaninglessness of so many past experiences that hang like dried skeletons within our memories, the anxieties that force man into an isolation of deadly loneliness. We become consoled, loved by God in an experience that is beyond concepts. We know that we know God loves us! This being-loved-by-God experience at the deepest level of our consciousness restores our strength, pushes us to new self-giving and creativity. (30)This is what happens during morning and evening prayer, within centering prayer, during the open intervals of our day, while awakening to night's dark silence, and when pausing long in the slow, quiet reading of Scripture. During such times we open ourselves to the mind of Christ. During such times, we breathe deeply "the interior air."
Image: Samantha Lamb, Breathing Deeply
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