Augustine Day by Day - October 3 - Silence

"Let us leave a little room for reflection, room too for silence. Enter into yourself, and leave behind all noise and confusion. Look within yourself. See whether there be some delightful hidden place in your consciousness, where you can be free of noise and argument, where you need not be carrying on your disputes and planning to have your own stubborn way. Hear the word in quietness, that you may understand it."

-- Sermon 52, 22

People don't turn from Christianity for "Eastern religions" to discover meditation; they turn away to avoid the hard doctrinal and moral truths of the Church. Traditionally, patristically and biblically, Christianity is an extremely meditative religion, as the witness of Mary (Lke 2:51) and Anna (Lke 2:36ff.) show us. Indeed, as Augustine prays,

Prayer. To those who love you, O Lord, according to your command, you show yourself, and it is enough for them. Thus they do not fall away from you nor back into themselves.

-- Sermon 261, 1

October 3