Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
17th June 2018

The Importance of Silence and Recollection
by St. John Climacus

"The wise remain silent until the right moment but a boasting fool misses the right moment. Whoever talks too much is detested, and whoever pretends to authority is hated" (Ecclus. 20).

A characteristic of those who are still progressing in blessed mourning is temperance and silence of the lips, and of those who have made progress - freedom from anger and patient endurance of injuries; and of the perfect - humility, thirst for dishonours, voluntary craving for involuntary afflictions, non-condemnation of sinners, compassion even beyond one's strength. The first are acceptable, the second laudable; but blessed are those who hunger for hardship and thirst for dishonour, for they shall have their fill of the food that does not decay.

If you possess the gift of mourning, hold on to it with all your might. For it is easily lost when it is not firmly established. And just as wax melts in the presence of fire, so it is easily dissolved by noise and bodily cares, and by luxury, and especially by talkativeness and levity. Talkativeness is the throne of vainglory on which it loves to show itself and make a display. Talkativeness is a sign of ignorance, a door to slander, a guide to jesting, a servant of falsehood, the ruin of compunction, a creator of despondency, a precursor of sleep, the dissipation of recollection, the abolition of watchfulness, the cooling of ardour, the darkening of prayer.

Deliberate silence is the mother of prayer, a recall from captivity, preservation of fire, a supervisor of thoughts, a watch against enemies, a prison of mourning, a friend of tears, effective remembrance of death, a depicter of punishment, a meddler with judgment, an aid to anguish, an enemy of freedom of speech, a companion of quiet, an opponent of desire to teach, increase of knowledge, a creator of contemplation, unseen progress, secret ascent. He who has become aware of his sins has controlled his tongue, but a talkative person has not yet got to know himself as he should.

The friend of silence draws near to God, and by secretly conversing with Him, is enlightened by God. The silence of Jesus put Pilate to shame, and by a man's stillness vainglory is vanquished. Peter, having said a word, lamented it bitterly, because he forgot him who said: "I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue", and the other who said: "A fall from a height to the ground is better than a slip with the tongue". He who has mastered it (silence) has cut off at one blow a multitude of evils. King David that Royal Prophet said in the Psalms: "I said: I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me. I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed" (Ps. 38).