Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: solitude

Respecting Solitude

If a man does not know the value of his own loneliness, how can he respect another’s solitude? It is at once our loneliness and our dignity to have an incommunicable personality that is ours, ours alone and no one else’s, and will be so forever. When human society fulfills its true function the persons… Read More ›

Share

The true solitary has a divine work to do in the world

The true solitary does not have to run away from others: they cease to notice him, because he does not share their love for an illusion. The soul that is truly solitary becomes perfectly colorless and ceases to excite either the love or the hatred of others by reason of solitude. The true solitary can,… Read More ›

Share

Solitude is a necessity

You must be free, and not involved. Solitude is to be preserved not as a luxury but as a necessity: not for “perfection” so much as for simple “survival” in the life God has given you. Hence, you must know when, how, and to whom you must say “no.” This involves considerable difficulty at times…. Read More ›

Share

Finding Inner Solitude

You will never find interior solitude unless you make some conscious effort to deliver yourself from the desires and the cares and the attachments of an existence in time and in the world. Do everything you can to avoid the noise and the business of men. Keep as far away as you can from the… Read More ›

Share

Wait in silence for God’s salvation

If you ask me how to obtain the delights of contemplation, my immediate answer is by living in the wilderness and coming up from it. You know what scripture says: ‘The Lord God will make the wilderness of Sion like delights, and her desert like the garden of the Lord’. Stay in solitude and be… Read More ›

Share

Spiritual Emancipation

He who is spiritually “born” as a mature identity is liberated from the enclosing womb of myth and prejudice. He learns to think for himself, guided no longer by the dictates of need and by the systems and processes designed to create artificial needs and then “satisfy” them. This emancipation can take two forms: first… Read More ›

Share

Prayer corners aid ascent to Christ

Catholic News Agency (CNA): When Anand Bheemarasetti purchased a home in the Highlands neighborhood, he knew it came equipped with the rooms he needed—living room, dining room, bathroom, bedroom.Yet he decided the Lord of his life needed a room also.“I think God, being the most important person in our lives, should actually have space, too,”… Read More ›

Share

True solitude

True solitude is found in humility, which is infinitely rich. False solitude is the refuge of pride, and it is infinitely poor. The poverty of false solitude comes from an illusion which pretends, by adorning itself in things it can never possess, to distinguish one individual self from the mass of other men. True solitude… Read More ›

Share

Solitude

Solitude is experienced differently than simply being alone, or feeling lonely, or of course isolation, which is I suppose the opposite of solitude. The ability to be alone before God, to simply be in the Eternals presence has to be grown into, a slow movement into the depths of the mystery of existence. Boredom often… Read More ›

Share

Jesus Demands Solitude

Christ the Lord is a spirit before your face, and he demands solitude of the spirit more than of the body, although physical withdrawal can be of benefit when the opportunity offers, especially in time of prayer. To do this is to follow the advice and example of the bridegroom, shut the door and then… Read More ›

Share