13 January 2013

Mother Teresa teaches us. In her rules she established a rigorous schedule of service accompanied by a thoughtful period of regular rest—one day a week, one week a month, one month per year, one year in every six. Mother knew better than any of us that our labor on behalf of the poor is never done. But she also understood the value of solitude, silence and stillness. Even throughout an active day of service in the life of a Missionary of Charity, every sister keeps to a routine of daily prayer interspersed throughout the day. In Nirmal Hriday, amidst a sea of dying men and women, at particular hours in the day you will find the sisters withdrawing from their work to pray in the upstairs chapel. Mother said, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… . We need silence to be able to touch souls.

Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life, Ch 5. p 88-89

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