The experience of solitude is necessary because only in solitude and silence is the living God revealed as the binding source of all that is. The veil is lifted, and we begin to see the wonderful possibilities of life together that surround and inhabit us. This means that, at our worst and darkest moments, we can affirm that we are God's handiwork, that God's image has marked us forever, that the most real thing about us is the Spirit who dwells in every human heart. We may be fundamentally and utterly nothing, we may be creatures marked for death, but we are peculiar beings whose very emptiness has been designed to be inhabited by nothing less than the living God. And it is in the living God that we meet one another. The life of prayer revolves around two poles: solitude and community. God is encountered in both places.
Forgiveness is always necessary when I have the perception that I failed to love and accept myself or another. Forgiveness allows me to let go of any feelings of inadequacy that arise in me. Forgiving myself is the affirmation that I do not buy into the feelings of inadequacy that invariably arise when I judge myself or another. Forgiveness keeps the slate of my heart open for Spirit to write on.