St Bruno Teaches Us the Value of Silence and Contemplation

Today is the Feast of St Bruno of Cologne, the Founder of the Order of Carthusians, an enclosed Order, dedicated to silent contemplation. In English, their monasteries are called "Charterhouses".

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

One of the hallmarks of St. Bruno's life was his dedication to silence and contemplation, a tradition that continues in Carthusian monasteries.

In 1084, several centuries after the founding of the Benedictine Order, a learned man in Germany named Bruno was frustrated with the corruption of priests and bishops in the city and ventured out to the wilderness to find a place of solitude and peace.

He would eventually found the Carthusian religious order, which is officially known as the Order of St. Bruno.

Silence and contemplation

Pope Benedict XVI reflected on St. Bruno's life in a homily he gave on October 6, 2006. In it he highlighted St. Bruno's dedication to silence and contemplation:

As clearly appears, the mission of St Bruno, today's saint, is, we might say, interpreted in the prayer for this day, which reminds us, despite being somewhat different in the Italian text, that his mission was silence and contemplation.

He then explained why we should incorporate silence and contemplation into our own lives:

But silence and contemplation have a purpose: they serve, in the distractions of daily life, to preserve permanent union with God. This is their purpose: that union with God may always be present in our souls and may transform our entire being.

Pope Benedict XVI believed that silence and contemplation are vital to our own spiritual lives, no matter what vocation we are currently in:

Silence and contemplation, characteristic of St Bruno, help us find this profound, continuous union with God in the distractions of every day. Silence and contemplation: speaking is the beautiful vocation of the theologian. This is his mission: in the loquacity of our day and of other times, in the plethora of words, to make the essential words heard. Through words, it means making present the Word, the Word who comes from God, the Word who is God.

While we may not be able to spend hours and hours in silence and contemplation like Carthusian monks, we can learn from them and incorporate even a little bit into each day, so that we can sit and listen to God's voice on a regular basis.