Silence is mildness:
when you don’t respond to offenses
when you don’t claim your rights
when you leave God to defend your honor
Silence is magnanimity:
when you don’t reveal the brothers’s sins
when you forgive without investigating in the past
when instead of condemning you intercede
Silence is patience:
when you suffer without complaining
when you don’t seek consolations outside of God
when you don’t intervene, but wait for the seed to sprout
Silence is humility:
when you shut up to let the brothers emerge
when you don’t ask for applause and recognition
when you let your actions could be misinterpreted
when you give others the merit and glory of the enterprise
Silence is faith:
when you are silent because it is He who acts
when you give up the voices of the world to stay in his presence
when you are not looking for understanding
because it is enough for you to be understood and used by Him
Silence is wisdom:
when you will remember that we will have to account for every useless word
when you remember that the devil is always waiting for your imprudent word to harm and kill
Finally, Silence is adoration:
when you embrace the Cross, without asking why
in the intimate certainty that this is the only right path …
(St. John of the Cross)