I recently came across a book while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Carmelite Conversations (by the way, you should really listen to this podcast to grow in love for God and neighbor - it's excellent!). It's called The Twelve Degrees of Silence and it was written by a 19th century Discalced Carmelite nun. The book has been translated by Lucinda M. Vardey from the French language and has been edited with introductions, references to St. John of the Cross and others in the Carmelite tradition, and reflection questions.
What is the Twelve Degrees of Silence?
The Twelve Degrees of Silence point to the stages a person needs to undergo to bring "Jesus to life" within and slowly be transformed to the place where "there will be nothing left but Christ."...She (Sister Maria-Aimee de Jesus) heard from the Lord that the soul can be made compliant and docile only when it is "void of preferences, personal will, attachments and desires, if she renders herself entirely to Me..." [The Twelve Degrees of Silence, p.29]
In the spiritual life, the idea of silence is not some kind of void, emptiness, or nothingness as many might think. Nor is is a mere absence of only exterior noises; for as we may know, we may be exteriorly silent and yet within we are filled with noise - noise from memories that serve us no eternal good, noise of future worries and anxieties, noise of our own judgments and perceptions, noise from our own self-dialogue, noise from our own imaginations which, again, serve us no eternal good and may even harm us or lead us to sin, and so on.
Silence is a way of creating "space" for the Lord within our soul to be more attentive to His Presence and to be able to listen to Him. It can lead us to a continuous disposition of interior adoration, thanksgiving, love, contrition, and supplication to Him throughout our day. It is a way of union with Him. It is the only way of intimate union with Him.
The first step toward creating this interior silence is by the practice of exterior silence. It is speaking less with the created and much more with the Creator. It also involves turning off all that extra background noise from the television, headphones, and media stimulation.
As a list, here are the twelve degrees of silence. Now they might seem strange to some who are unfamiliar with the context in which they are written or do not quite understand Catholic spirituality and the Christian tradition. It would require a further reading of the works of the saints as well as this book to better understand what is meant by each degree of silence.
1. Silence with words
2. Silence in actions
3. Silence with one's imagination
4. Silence with one's memories (except to remember the goodness,mercy, and graces of God)...again it's best to read this book and the works of the saints to understand these in a greater context!
5. Silence with others
6. Silence with one's heart
7. Silence to self-interest
8. Silence of the mind
9. Silence of the judgments
10. Silence to the will
11. Silence towards oneself
12. Silence with God
Silence in Actions
The second degree of silence is silence in actions. I'd like to elaborate a little more on this because I had an interesting experience with this that really resonated with me and was eye-opening.
Back in June, I somehow and in some way threw out my back for three days. It left my lower back very weak and sensitive to anything more than a gentle and subtle movement. It was an acute pain that I had to be very careful of, leaving me to walk hunched over like an old lady, moving ever-so-slowly. My turns and twists and bends had to be very limited and very, very slow. It was difficult because being a mother of multiple little children does not leave much of an opportunity to rest or move slow! I couldn't lift the kids without much pain, nor could I turn quickly if I had to intervene with the kids or give a quick spank on the bottom!
Yet despite my limited physical abilities for that short time, I wanted to see the Lord through all of this. Ironically, at the end of the three days, I wasn't quite sure I wanted this injury to go away! My prayer quickly turned from, "Heal my back if it's Your Will" to just "Lord, just let Your Will be done," because maybe there was something greater He was doing in this pain that I just couldn't quite see or understand with my finite view of eternity and God's plans.
Yes, I couldn't do some thing with the kids I previously was able to do, but at the same time, I felt closer to the Lord and I could see how He was working in my life through this. I was able to speak with Him more by recalling His Presence within me. I was gentler and more patient with the kids rather than just reacting quickly or rushing around or thinking about the next think that needed to be hurriedly done.
This was all due to the fact that my hurried movements and anticipations to "get the next thing done quickly" had been removed. I only had the present moment and was physically limited to it (rather than getting ahead of myself) because of the condition that my back was in. It was easier to "be still and know that He is God." And by "be still," I mean, interiorly...being interiorly attentive to the Lord, keeping one's gaze fixed upon Him even in the midst of one's occupations. As a result of this more constant communication with the Lord - this look of love - every other area of my vocation and life was touched in a fuller way than one would think.
Now, such a drawback with an injury might leave one to think the injury "takes away" from their ability to live life; but in reality, through the eyes of Faith, we can see how it adds to the fullness of our lives and paves the way for a more unhindered outpouring of God's grace in our lives and those around us for whom we pray and encounter. Yes, my actions were slower, but to my surprise, all the things that needed to get done that day were always amazingly done. And if something didn't get finished that perhaps I would have wanted, it gave me an opportunity to practice detachment from my plans in order to live more fully in the present moment and "pay more attention" to what the Lord wanted in that moment.
My back felt a great deal better by the fourth day but the experience left me pondering this "slowness and gentleness of action" and living in "the sacrament of the present moment." I certainly can do it because I just did for three days!
I am currently reading about Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and some of her major spiritual writings. She is about to be canonized in the fall and what she offers to the Church is a profound mystical theology and doctrine on the indwelling presence of the Blessed Trinity within each of God's baptized. She gives us a profound thought about each moment...
Each incident, each event, each suffering as well as each joy is a sacrament which God gives to it. [Heaven in Faith]
Have you thought of each moment as a sacrament from God...literally a gift through which His graces comes forth to you? As we know as Catholics, a sacrament is an exterior sign which is a channel of God's grace. A Sacrament is a...
...visible sign of the hidden reality of salvation [Catechism of the Catholic Church #774]...They are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. [CCC #1084]
Because Jesus is both God and man, human and divine, flesh and spirit, so does He use the physical realities to convey the spiritual as well as His graces. As Catholics, we have the seven Sacraments (capital "S") that Christ instituted, but we can also consider each moment a sacrament (lowercase "s") through which God effects His grace. God's grace comes to us only through each present moment and so each event that happens - whether we are tieing our child's shoe, experiencing a sickness, or rejoicing in the beautiful weather - it is a channel and visible sign of God's grace and His Will being made manifest if we are attentive.
Ok, back to the degrees of silence! Let me share what Sister Marie-Aimee of Jesus writes about silence in actions.
Silence in Actions
This is silence in the workplace (our actions and daily occupations) and slowness in our movements. Silence in walking, softness in looking, gentleness in speaking, blocking out all noise. Being silent to everything exterior is a preparation for the soul to pass into God.
From these efforts, the soul deserves to hear the voice of the Lord. How well these first steps are rewarded! God calls the soul to the desert, which is why the soul avoids every distraction in this second stage... [The Twelve Degrees of Silence, p.42]
Lucinda Vardey leaves us with some reflection questions to consider in this degree of silence...
1. Where can gentleness find expression in your every day?
2. What is required for you to be more gentle with yourself?
3. Are there incidents of hurry and hardness in your life that need transforming?
4. How comfortable - or uncomfortable - is silence for you?
5. What distractions keep you from being silent? Are these distractions interior or exterior or both?
6. Can you put aside 2.4 hours a day (one-tenth of your day) to be alone with God?
7. What changes do you need to make to put aside this time? (For many of us, we may need to work up to this point!)
8. Are your activities propelled by self-desire or prayerful obedience?
9. Can your thoughts and activities merge into contemplative gestures?
What really struck me was the incidents of "hurry" and "hardness" in my daily life. While I do have little kids and realize there are appointments to get to sometimes or situations which need immediate intervention, I also realize that I put myself on a false time-clock...a lot.
Why am I so rushed to get the kids into bed for naps after we get home from their friend's house? Is five minutes really going to make that much of a difference? Yet instead, I'm rushing them along when we get home, treating them more like objects to "meet my goal" of a 1pm nap time rather than persons who need attentiveness and love. Why do I rush to do the dishes after dinner rather than taking my time enjoying the help of my son clearing the table and drawing myself back to God interiorly? I'm thinking that the "extra slowness" of five minutes is worth this great exchange.
Can I merge my thoughts and actions into contemplative gestures that center upon the Lord? Yes, I can. And I ought to do this more, rather than get interiorly swept away by a whirlwind of activity. I do believe this is possible by God's grace and our yearning for it!
Can gentleness find its expression more in my every day? Yes, it can...especially with a certain whiny, little toddler that I sometimes have little patience for.
Oh there are many improvements to be made here! But it's ok - I'm glad I know and I completely trust in God's mercy to help me grow closer to Him in these ways.
How about you? Have you heard of the Twelve Degrees of Silence? What do you think of silence in actions?
"Be still and know that I am God."
- Psalm 46:10