Transparency In Ministry

If solitude were primarily an escape from a busy job, and silence primarily an escape from a noisy milieu, they could easily become very self-centered...solitude and silence are for prayer. The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as being with God. They did not think of silence as not speaking, but as listening to God. Solitude and silence are the context within which prayer is practiced.
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> -Henri Nouwen, from The Way of the Heart, Desert Spirituality and
Contemporary Ministry.