Silence and the enclosure
Saint Benedict evokes silence in the very first chapters of the Rule, between obedience and humility, showing the importance he attaches to it. Like the Cistercian founders, their heirs, the Trappists, practice silence with particular vigilance. They strive to remain silent in their communal life, listening to reading when they eat in the refectory and only using brief, functional sentences or signs when at work. This does not in any way harm cordial relations and does not prevent the monks from speaking whenever necessary to the elders, who support them in their daily lives.
“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed… to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ!”
(Epistle to the Romans, 16:25-27)
Silence is a mystery that is more practised than explained. Words are inadequate to understand the spiritual value of silence. Those who accept to immerse themselves in silence, and quieten the noises that surround silence, begin to perceive what it entails. From a spiritual point of view, silence is obviously linked to listening. We remain silent to hear the voice of the Lord speaking “in a gentle whisper”, in “a still small voice.”
“The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”
(First Book of Kings 19:11-13)
Silence takes root in our hearts much more deeply than in the restraint of words. It is inner silence that makes prayer possible. To speak to our hearts, God starts by taking us into the desert and silencing us:
“If you have anything to say, answer me; speak up […]. But if not, then listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
(Job 33:29-33)
Silence requires us to learn how to stifle the rumours that fill our imagination even more readily than those that reach our ears: murmurs, recriminations against others, vain projects, dark desires… Speaking of these wrongful thoughts, Saint Benedict encourages us to “dash them against Christ and disclose them to your spiritual father” (Chapter 4). This is a lifelong combat.
By frequently repeating a brief prayer, →The invocation, monks learn how to listen and hear “the still small voice” in which God is present.
“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
(Psalm 131:2)
The enclosure forms the boundary of areas reserved for the community. It is the material expression of the monks’ duty to live in silence and apart, without being separated from their peers.
Social networks and the Internet, which are now unavoidable in social relationships, especially at work, are used with discernment by the monks. The Internet connection is switched off in the monastery between 7.30 pm and 7.30 am.