Thoughts on silence

 

Connecting in Silence Silence is that ever-faithful companion, a portal to constantly deeper connection with whatever is in front of you. That which is in front of you does not need to be big or important. It can be a stone. It can be a grasshopper. Anything can convert you once you surround it with this reverent silence that gives it significance, identity, singularity, importance, value, or what Duns Scotus called the “thisness” of everything. Scotus, building again on Francis’s love of animals and creatures— Brother Sun, Sister Moon—said that God does not create genus and species. God only creates this: this frog, this moment, this dog. And the fact that this dog is persisting and being in this moment means that God is choosing it and loving it right now or it would fall into oblivion. Wow, that is good! At least I think so. —from the book Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation by Richard Rohr