http://www.archive.org/stream/thecompleteascet01grimuoft/thecompleteascet01grimuoft_djvu.txt
On the other hand, religious who live with a tranquil conscience cannot but
love solitude; and when they find themselves out of it,
they feel like fish out of water they enjoy no peace,
and are, as it were, in a violent state. It is true that
man loves society; but what society preferable to the
society of God ? Ah! to withdraw from creatures and
to converse in solitude with our Creator brings neither
bitterness nor tediousness. Of this the Wise Man assures us: For her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her
company any tediousness, but joy and gladness. 1 The Venerable Father Vincent Carafa, General of the Society of
Jesus (as has been said in another place), said that he
desired nothing in this world, and that were he to desire
anything, he would wish only for a little grotto, along
with a morsel of bread, and a spiritual book, in order to
live there always in solitude.
It is not true that a life of solitude is a life of melancholy: it is a foretaste and beginning of the life of the
saints in bliss, who are filled with an immense joy in the
sole occupation of loving and praising their God. Thus
St. Jerome said, that flying from Rome he went to shut
himself up in the cave of Bethlehem, in order to enjoy
solitude. Hence he afterwards wrote: "To me solitude
is a paradise." The saints in solitude appear to be
alone, but they are not alone. St. Bernard said: "I am
never less alone than when I find myself alone;" 3 for I
am then in the company of my Lord, who gives me more
content than I could derive from the conversation of all
creatures. They appear to be in sadness, but they are
not sad. The world, seeing them far away from earthly
amusements, regard them as miserable and disconsolate;
but they are not so; they, as the Apostle attests, enjoy
an immense and continual peace. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing? The prophet Isaias attested the same
when he said: The Lord therefore, will comfort Sion, and
will comfort all the ruins thereof; and lie will make her desert
as a place, of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the
Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving
and the voice of praise? The Lord well knows how to
console the solitary soul, and will give a thousandfold
compensation for all the temporal pleasures which it
has forfeited: he will render its solitude a garden of his
delights. There joy and gladness shall be always found,
and nothing shall be heard but the voice of thanksgiving
and praise to the divine goodness. Hence, Cardinal
Petrucci describes the happiness of a solitary heart in
the following words: " It appears to be sad, and it is filled
with celestial joy. Though it treads on the earth, its
dwelling is in heaven. It asks nothing for itself, because
in its bosom it contains an immense treasure. It appears
to be agitated and overwhelmed by the tempest, and it
is always in a secure harbor."
In order to find this happy solitude, it is not necessary
for you, dear sister, to hide yourself in a cave or in a
desert; even in the monastery, you can, whenever you
wish, find the solitude which you desire. Shun the
grates, shun useless conversations and discourses; love
the choir and the cell; remain in the choir or cell when
ever obedience or charity does not call you elsewhere;
and thus you will find the solitude that is suited to you,
and that God wishes from you. Thus David found it,
even in the midst of the great concerns of a kingdom, and
therefore he said: Lo, I have gone far off, flying away; and
I abode in the wilderness? St. Philip Neri desired to retire
into a desert, but God gave him to understand that he
should not leave Rome, but that he should live there as
in a desert. The Lord wishes the same from religious,
whom he desires to be his true spouses; he wishes them
to be enclosed in gardens, that in them he may be able
to find his delights. My sister my spouse is a garden enclosed?
But Gilbert well remarks: "He knows not how
to be a garden, that does not wish to be enclosed." 3
The nun who is unwilling to be enclosed, that is, careful
not to bring into her heart the thoughts and dangers of
the world by frequent intercourse with worldlings, can
not be the garden of Jesus Christ.
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