To go in search of solitude, even for a short time, will
make a difference. It is so important in spiritual growth. You can throw
out all other kinds of discipline as long as you 'stay in you cell' (stay
with yourself). ...The ancient wisdom is to stay in your cell and it will
teach you everything ... The hermit living in the desert is free from a
threefold strife: the strifes of eyes, ears and tongues. One strife alone
remains, the strife of the heart... In solitude it is the heart which comes to
the top, with its innate discord; sold to sin (Rom 7:14), but already
indwelt by God and the prayer of the Holy Spirit But it is sin which in
solitary prayer comes first to the surface. Daunting,
overwhelming....Solitude sets me off from everything and takes me back to my
own nothingness... Every superficial prop, every distraction, has gone... A
person stands naked and defenseless before God, that is to say, in that poverty
and weakness which are his only asset, Before solitude brings me to the
encounter with God, it shows me my own limitations and insignificance... I
uncover in myself sin and frailty... The effect of solitude gives release from
many false ideas and illusions. It teaches how to be an ordinary human
being , frail and in need of help... It is in the struggle with sin and evil that
God intervenes to strengthen the solitary... and here one begins to find
one's true heart... This solitude is by turns wilderness and paradise, the tomb
of sin and the womb of the new world, the Passover of Jesus.
Andre Louf Teach Us To Pray
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