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There may come a day when my glory will sing to Him, and when my conscience will not feel compunction, where all sighs and fears will have ceased; but in the meantime, in silence and hope will be my strength.

The Apostle would have us keep silence, for in silence he tells us to work. As the Prophet also makes known to us: Silence is the way to foster holiness. Elsewhere he says: Your strength will lie in silence and hope.

The more you feel your weakness, your difficulty in being recollected, the more the Master seems to hide Himself, the more you should rejoice, for then you are giving Him something, and is it not better to give than to receive, when one loves?

It is best to learn to silence the faculties and to cause them to be still so that God may speak.

Do you think He is silent? Even though we do not hear Him, He speaks well to the heart when we beseech Him from the heart.

He wants you to go out from yourself to leave all preoccupations, in order to retire into that solitude which He is choosing for Himself in the depths of your heart. He is always there, even when you do not feel Him. He is waiting for you, to establish with you...an intimate union.

There is no companionship which affords comfort to the soul that longs for God; indeed, until she finds Him everything causes greater solitude.

If you want to find a hidden treasure you must enter the hiding place secretly, and once you have discovered it, you will also be hidden just as the treasure is hidden. Since, then, your beloved Bridegroom is the treasure hidden in a field for which the wise merchant sold all his possessions [Mt. 13:44], and that field is your soul, in order to find him you should forget all your possessions and all creatures and hide in the secret inner room of your spirit and there, closing the door behind you (your will to all things), you should pray to your Father in secret [Mt. 6:6]. Remaining hidden with him, you will experience him in hiding, that is, in a way transcending all language and feeling.

Courage then, O soul most beautiful! You now know that your Beloved dwells hidden within your own breast. Endeavor therefore to be truly hidden with Him.

Just as the Prophet did not hear the voice of God in the storm, but in the gentle breeze, so the heart of the spiritual person must not be shaken by the storm, but must listen for God's voice in the silence of its own interior.

Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh waters; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight...and in their solitude and silence they refresh and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to me.

The very pure spirit does not meddle with exterior attachments or human respect, but it communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.