On Humility
June 7
The ninth degree of humility is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence, not speaking until he is questioned. For the Scripture shows that “in much speaking there is no escape from sin” and that “the talkative man is not stable on the earth.”
Reflection
Saint Benedict introduces us here to a new dimension of silence. He wants us to begin to ‘cultivate a love for silence’. A silence that will enable us to listen to the other and above all to The Other. From now on, also, we are more attentive to those around us, for the Lord can speak to us through them. But above all, it is in silence that we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit murmuring in the depths of our being.
