Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Pope: learn to be silent, to hear God's voice

» 09/09/2009 12:37
VATICAN

In general audience, Benedict XVI traces the figure of St. Peter Damian. He highlights the great eleventh century monk’s lesson not to be overly absorbed by daily activities and problems of life, "forgetting that Jesus must be central to our lives."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – We must not allow ourselves to become absorbed by daily activities and problems of life, "forgetting that Jesus must be central to our life”, we must learn to" know how to be silent in ourselves to hear the voice of God". This lesson on the "supremacy of God" comes from the life and work of St. Peter Damian, the "exuberant personality" illustrated by Benedict XVI to 8 thousand people present today in the Paul VI for the general audience.

Writer, Latin scholar, poet, "personally committed to the reform undertaken by the popes" in the eleventh century, but above all a monk, Pier Damiani was born in Ravenna in 1007. An orphan from an early age, his childhood "was not without pain. He received his formation first at Faenza and then Parma. He became a teacher, competent in law and had a "refined skill in the art of composition", being "one of the best Latinists of his time".

His "poetic contemplation of the world”, pushed him to leave it in 1034, when he entered the recently founded monastery of Fonte Avellana. He described the life of the founder St. Romuald of Ravenna, and "especially the ideal of monastic hermitage”. In connection to this the Pope recalled that the hermit was dedicated to the Holy Cross, “the Christian mystery that fascinated him more than all others". "Those who do not love the Cross - he would say - do not love Christ". "He dedicated beautiful reflections to it”, enhancing "the cosmic dimensions that embrace the whole history of salvation. O blessed cross he wrote”. "His example - said Benedict XVI – urges us to always regard the cross as the supreme act of God for man, who gave us salvation."

In Fonte Avellana Peter Damian also drafted the rule, "in the silence of the cloister, monks are called to a life of prayer," of "fasting" of "brotherly love" and "availability to the superior". He emphasized the "mystical meanings of the Word of God", he defined the cell as a "parlour where God converses with man”. "This is still important for those of us who are not monks: knowing how to make silence within, to hear the voice of God”. "In prayer and meditation we learn the Word of God in the path of life”.
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See also:

From CNA, "Make Jesus central to your life like St. Peter Damian did, Pope exhorts"

From Catholic Culture, "Find silence within, Pope encourages Christians"

And from YouTube-Vatican's Channel:

Benedict XVI: God speaks through silence
September 9, 2009

posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 6:25 PM