Reflection, Feb. 25, 2007

Chi Rho Reflection for the Week of February 25, 2007

As one of the on-going ministries of Chi Rho Press, here is a selection from our book of daily devotions, "Living as the Beloved: One Day at a Time," by the Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok.

Please read the Scripture passage and Dr. Bochonok's meditation. We hope you will be blessed.

Spiritual success

"In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed."
Mark 1:35

"Without silence, there is no solitude."
- Richard Foster

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a famous Lutheran pastor who lived in Nazi Germany during World War Two. He actively worked with the underground resistance in an effort to remove Hitler from power. He passionately believed we need both solitude and community for spiritual success. Both are essential.

There is an inseparable connection between inner silence and inner solitude. Masters of the interior life have often written of this profound truth. The purpose of silence and solitude is to be able to see and hear. They are powerful inner disciplines and help us know when to speak and when to refrain from words. There "is a time to keep silence and a time to speak" (Ecclesiastes 3:7). "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver"
(Proverbs 25:11).

God, give us spiritual success through silence and wise speech, solitude, and community. Amen.