In the Middle Ages people were well aware of the inexhaustible power that arises simply from sitting still... The inner quiet which arises when the body is motionless and in its best possible form can become the source of transcendental experience. By emptying ourselves of all those matters that normally occupy us, we become receptive to Greater Being. True enlightenment has the effect of so fundamentally affecting and shaking the whole person that they themselves, as well as their total physical existence in the world, is completely transformed.
In the silence, ask to learn
how to give of yourself,
how to forgive others, and
how to live with gratitude.
Thus, we need not seek inner peace:
Peace will find us!
Blessed are you who forgive
without remembering
and
you who receive forgiveness
without forgetting.
Even as the silence exposes my subtle deceptions, my inauthenticity, my "sins" (much deeper than a mere catalog of misdeeds) -- it exposes at the same time God's unconditional love for me:
- surprising in its lack of judgment,
- astounding in its completeness,
- and flavored with a sweet forgiveness.