"We must remember that the Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is hidden in essence and in presence, in the inmost being of the soul. That soul, therefore, that will find Him, must go out from all things in will and affection, and enter into the profoundest self-recollection, and all things must be to it as if they existed not. Hence, St. Augustine says: "I found You not without, O Lord; I sought You without in vain, for You are within." God is therefore hidden within the soul, and the true contemplative will seek Him there in love, saying, 'Where have You hidden Yourself?'" - St. John of the Cross, 'Spiritual Canticle of the Soul'I was reading Saint Augustine's "Confessions" recently, and something that struck me was this pervading sense of passion for the Lord Jesus in all the words of Saint Augustine. As he is a saint, this is obvious, but unlike the normal idea of passion as loud and explosive, the passion of Saint Augustine and all the Saints for Christ is a silent, calm burning of love, and although the Saints were always the most outgoing about Jesus, talking about Him and barely, if any, about anything else, they sought him not only in the people they loved, but also in their secret moments with Him, the moments in "the hidden place". It is a place of silence, of listening, of relinquishing oneself to the love of God that He is eternally and infinitely pouring out for us, asking us to join him at the still waters (Psalm 23:2) where He waits for us with eager expectation, just like we long for Him always and everywhere in the deepest part of our hearts.
The problem most people have when they learn about the importance of the hidden place where God awaits them is both knowing where it is and getting there. In Saint John of the Cross' "Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ", the Bride, the soul, cries out in pain, "Where have You hidden Yourself?" The soul seeks its Beloved but doesn't know where to find Him, searching at first in the places of the world, and then in the places made for God, and then finally, knowing no other place to look, the bride-soul looks into itself and sees at last its Beloved Lord. Christ told us that He is always with us (Matthew 28:20), and we ourselves are temples of the Holy Spirit. So it is within us, in the depths of the soul, that God rests, that the Beloved awaits us.
Although we know where He is now, actually getting there is the true challenge. Saint John of the Cross continues to write in the same Spiritual Canticle that the bride-soul, seeking the Beloved in the depths of itself, must give up its desires for everything else, for everything that does not lead it to the Bridegroom Christ. This is one of the most difficult, if not the most, challenges we have today; giving up things that do not lead us to Christ. There are so many distractions around us that stop us from growing closer to Him and even some that take us away from Him! These are things we don't need in our lives, in our seeking our Beloved. These are things that will never make us truly happy, so why should we keep them? This is how we can be still, quiet, and silent, by giving up our distractions even for just a few minutes every day and taking time to simply listen to our Beloved Jesus and be in His presence.
Obviously, we're not all called to live in a monastery somewhere, and in fact I'm guessing most of us are not. But it is of the utmost importance to live with the calmness that comes from being simple, from seeking the secret, hidden, and silent place. The Chris Tomlin song titled, "In the Secret" has as its chorus, "I want to know You, I want to hear Your voice, I want to know You more. I want to touch You, I want to see Your face, I want to know You more", because it's all about knowing and being with Him more, loving and being in love with Him more and more everyday, and the best language of lovers is the pure silence between them.
St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Jesus, Pope St. John Paul the Great, St. Augustine, and all of you holy men and women and angelic hosts, please pray for us!
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