The silence

Jesus Left for the Desert:

The simple truth is that the human soul can flourish spiritually only by cultivating a contemplative quality. A commitment to some external quiet in a day is therefore essential. The amount of time may be a personal choice, but the need is undeniable.
There may be people who consider this need for silence an eccentric or unnatural impulse. Indeed, it is a regrettable feature of modern life and its technological dependencies that for many people a choice for silence can be completely absent in a typical day. Yet it is only silence that replenishes our inner spirit and keeps a deeper layer of soul in us open to truth.
The reason for this is quickly experienced. The presence of some silence in our day has the effect of drawing us to a more generous attentiveness. Silence does not just make us listen better. Its greater impact is on the quality of our eyes. A more selfless act of attention permeates our perception of reality as we live a day. Perhaps we are attracted then to a silence that resides at the heart of all reality and all events.
Noise and turmoil may be inescapable, but the surface turbulence is not everything, and a love for silence conveys a deeper truth. It allows us to sense that God is present with his secret gaze upon all that occurs in every day.

Father Donald Haggerty.