ROOM FOR REFLECTION

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) wrote, “Let us leave a little room for reflection in our lives, room too for silence. Let us look within ourselves and see whether there is some delightful hidden place inside where we can be free of noise and argument. Let us hear the Word of God in stillness and perhaps we will then come to understand it.”

This wisdom of Augustine is learned only by experience. After reading scripture, as important as that may be, we need to allow scripture to read us. To sit in silence and ‘hear the Word of God in stillness’ is a discipline, but it is here that his voice becomes so loud and clear that it can move us, change us and silence us from our own noise and argument.

The ‘delightful hidden place inside” is often created by this exercise. When there is frustration and anxiety, it can many times be removed and replaced only by silence and listening.

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” Jesus