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Francisco de Zurbarán 1598 -1664
Saint Bonaventure and St Thomas Aquinas before the Crucifix |
I can only look at his work briefly, as excellent as his many things are.
There is a story that St. Thomas Aquinas visited Bonaventure when he was writing his life of St. Francis,
and found him in ecstasy. Thomas said, "Let us leave a saint to work for a saint".
Out of all his writings, I am choosing a section on silence, the largest problem of the laity today.
This is from Holiness of Life.
"In the multitude of words there shall not
want sin." I quote from the Book of Proverbs.
Obviously, a religious aiming to perfect
his ways, will find silence a very helpful
virtue. To speak seldom, and then but briefly,
prevents sin. Where there is too much talk,
God is in one way or another offended, and
reputations suffer. On the other hand let only
the virtue of silence come into its own and
people get their due. If we deal fairly with
one another, and practise the virtue of justice,
we establish the bond of peace. This means
that where silence is observed the fruits of
peace are gathered as easily as fruit is gathered
from a heavily laden tree.
Of all places in the world peace is essential
in the cloister. Silence is of paramount importance
.... because by
means of silence peace of mind and body is
preserved. Dilating on the virtue of silence
Isaias the prophet said: "The work of justice
shall be peace, and the service of justice shall
be quietness" ! or silence. It is as though he
said : The nature of silence is such that it
acts as a preservative of the godly virtue justice.
It encourages peaceful ways and enables
men to live in peace and harmony. We
may lay it down as a principle that unless a man
diligently "sets a guard to his tongue," he
must lose all the graces he has acquired and
necessarily and quickly fall into evil ways.
"The tongue," wrote the Apostle St. James,
"is indeed a little member and boasteth great
things." It is "a fire, a world of iniquity."
According to the commentators, St. James
meaning is that almost all evil deeds are inspired
or perpetrated by the tongue.
How can the lay person in the world create silence? I suggest several things.
The first is not having a television. The second is not having the radio on all
the time. Third, simplify your life so that you are less busy. One does not need to do all the activities offered to one, even in a parish or community.
Learn to cultivate interior silence, so that you can be in a room with people
and still be silent.
If one cannot cultivate silence, one will be lost in the rush of chaos to come.