Notes on Solitude

 

 

NOTES ON SOLITUDE

Solitude is seeking God and it is for this reason that it is pursued. As the spiritual journey of the solitary progresses, the meaning and role of solitude in the salvation of the seeker becomes manifest as well as how the whole endeavor works towards the salvation of others.

Solitude is a calling. God who calls makes solitude bear fruit.

The solitary who finds God in solitude is able to satisfy their heart and remain in communion with God. This divine companionship can make up for the absence of human companions, while in the presence of community—whether two or more persons—the solitary can love the other in and through the heart of God without suffering the need for human companionship. How is this possible? Because God can satisfy the human heart entirely, his presence can make up for the absence of human community and in the companionship of others God’s presence allows the solitary to relate to others in and through God.

Human beings are social by nature, so that in beatitude everyone will be with God in the community of the other angels and saints. They will no longer feel the anguish of their inescapably solitary condition. They will be one with God first, one with the angels and saints second.

Solitude is the most profound intimacy and union with God. It is this solitude that enables us to live in community with others at the level of prayer and union with God.

Always to live with God in our hearts is all that we only desire. It is we who turn away from God. We are the authors of our own unhappiness.

https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-grace-of-solitude_17.html

The solitary vocation, already very difficult, is best lived in community. Human beings are social by nature so that they require the support of a like-minded spiritual community for their psychological health.

In reality, we never really journey alone because we are all mystically joined. Only the damned are forever separated from God by their own free will.

https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-spirituality-of-silence-and-solitude.html

Carthusian prayer isn’t supposed to be lived in secular society. Separated from the world and enclosed, Carthusian spirituality is a special type of religious vocation that is realized only under exceptional conditions.

Still, the example of Carthusian life puts into practice important principles of the spiritual life that apply to all Christians—the indispensability of developing an interior relationship with God in solitary and silent prayer, and the helpfulness, indeed, necessity even of implementing organization and structure in conducting one’s spiritual life in order to develop, maintain, grow, and flourish in our loving relationship with the mysterious and Almighty God.

https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2024/01/year-of-prayer-2024.html

At Calabria Saint Bruno writes to Raoul le Verd, provost of Reims:

“I am living in the wilderness of Calabria far removed from habitation. There are some brethren with me, some of whom are very well educated and they are keeping assiduous watch for their Lord, so as to open to him at once when he knocks. I could never even begin to tell you how charming and pleasant it is. The temperatures are mild, the air is healthful; a broad plain, delightful to behold, stretches between the mountains along their entire length, bursting with fragrant meadows and flowery fields. One could hardly describe the impression made by the gently rolling hills on all sides, with their cool and shady glens tucked away, and such an abundance of refreshing springs, brooks and streams. Besides all this, there are verdant gardens and all sorts of fruit-bearing trees.

“Yet why dwell on such things as these? The man of true insight has other delights, far more useful and attractive, because divine. It is true, though that our rather feeble nature is renewed and finds new life in such perspectives, wearied by its spiritual pursuits and austere mode of life. It is like a bow, which soon wears out and runs the risk of becoming useless, if it is kept continually taut.

“In any case, what benefits and divine exaltation the silence and solitude of the desert hold in store for those who love it, only those who have experienced it can know.

“For here men of strong will can enter into themselves and remain there as much as they like, diligently cultivating the seeds of virtue and eating the fruits of paradise with joy.

“Here they can acquire the eye that wounds the Bridegroom with love, by the limpidity of its gaze, and whose purity allows them to see God himself.

“Here they can observe a busy leisure and rest in quiet activity.

“Here also God crowns his athletes for their stern struggle with the hoped-for reward: a peace unknown to the world and joy in the Holy Spirit.

“Such a way of life is exemplified by Rachel, who was preferred by Jacob for her beauty, even though she bore fewer children than Leah, with her less penetrating eyes. Contemplation, to be sure has fewer offspring than does action, and yet Joseph and Benjamin were the favourites of their father. This life is the best part chosen by Mary, never to be taken away from her.”

https://chartreux.org/en/texts/bruno-raoul-le-verd.php

—“Letter of saint Bruno to his friend Raoul-le-Verd,” The Carthusian Order

https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2020/07/placeholder-3-of-4.html