Part 3 - We Shall Rest and We Shall See / Chapter 21 - Steeped in Quietness

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A short description in Augustine’s book The City of God offers us, I believe, a perfect model for silent prayer.

In the final paragraph he describes the process, as he sees it, by which we enter into our life with God in eternity.

He writes: ‘In eternity we shall rest and we shall see. We shall see and we shall love. We shall love and we shall praise.’

For me, these words suggest the stages by which we also become aware of our union with God in this life.

Our first experience of eternity, he tells us, is as a haven of rest. And resting is the starting point for our journey to our hearts, but it is only the start. In resting we begin the journey that will transform our lives. We shall find a new way of seeing and then a new way of loving. Of loving ourselves, and others, and God.

To spend time resting from all effort prepares us for a living encounter with the Lord. When we come to believe that God is, before all else, the one who invites us to a place of rest, then we will cease our struggling and let him enfold us in his peace.

We no longer wear ourselves out trying to find God, or trying to gain his approval. Instead, we wait for him in silence and peace. We listen, and in the silence we hear his gentle invitation to that quiet place within where he waits for us.

So we bring our body and mind into a state of stillness, that stillness described in Psalm 130 in which all words disappear, in which our whole being is steeped in quietness and trust:


O Lord, my heart is not proud nor haughty my eyes.

I have not gone after things too great nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul in silence and peace.

As a child in its mother’s arms even so my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord both now and for ever.


This is our cue: to rest in the Lord’s presence as a child in its mother’s arms. It is so simple, and so sensible.

As we are drawn deeper into the silence all sorts of things happen. But to begin with let us first trust the silence, trust that God is at the heart of the silence. In time the silence will deepen. We do not look for anything except to find our way to the still centre where Christ is.


An extract from Finding Your Hidden Treasure

© 2010 Benignus O’Rourke OSA

Published by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd

© Photo: Ian Wilson OSA

Get the book: www.theaugustinians.org

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The great silence of the heart

'God speaks to us in the great silence of the heart." - Augustine of Hippo

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Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. Col 4:6

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