the sounds of silence

On a recent work trip to southern California, I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a women’s Silent Retreat at the Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra, a beautiful neighborhood in the western San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles.

Not only was the time in silence a powerful gift to my weary spirit, but it also allowed me the opportunity to join in prayer with the generous community of women who run Sacred Heart Retreat House—the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles.

If you are not familiar with them, I encourage you to check out the website and their ministries: http://www.carmelitesistersocd.com/

Words are not enough to describe the Eucharistic presence of joining in silent worship with women who have vowed to live a life of prayer and service.

And no adjectives adequately describe the depth and breadth of what our generous God will do to love me… when I finally become still and silent in His presence.

I know I will be writing more about this experience. 

For now, a few images to give you a taste…

even the doors honored the silence!

“It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things…

In speaking of God's grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God. Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbors so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.”

~Pope Benedict XVI,

for World Communication Day

2012