20. to the servant of God, Giselbert the hermit of Silvigny(?)

[External content], Fragmentary first draft.

To the most beloved and one especially to be welcomed into womb of Christ, brother Gislebert, brother Peter, the humble abbot of Cluny, sends greetings, from the narrowness of his cell to the expanse of the open sky.

I received the missives of your love, beloved brother, on the Holy Saturday of the Lord’s entombment and since I was unable to at first, I then, with the offices started, read through them, seated beside the altar. And it was not displeasing that I should read them in such a place and at such a time, since I realized that reading it would offer great benefit to me. For recollecting your confinement and solitude, I lamented from the depths of my soul my exposure to the world and understood your dying to it – I rejoicing that I do not say dead. I rejoice both that you are uncommonly careful about your salvation and that you have not forgotten me. I exalt in the Lord that a new planting brings with it the hope of fruit

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That holy meditation follows prayer like a servant, upon whom the mistress depends …

Que la méditation saint suivre la prière comme une servante sur laquelle puisse se reposer la maîtresse et d’où elle s’élevera plus vigoureuse après son repos… de même que jaillit le feu lorsqu’on jette la graisse sur les flammes, ainsi la ferveur de la prière, engraissée par l’aliment de la lecture et de la méditation s’épanouit dans les immenses ardeurs de l’amour divin… Telles sont les délices des fils des rois; telle est la table préparée par Mère sagesse, parcourant les places et invitant non pas les grands, mais les petits à son festin.

The world holds itelf in an entirety in the few feet of a cell, and within a cell hardly enough for one man, encompasses cities and vast kingdoms. The peace of such a hermit is a labour filled with troubles, and if for the corporeal eye it is still solitude, for the eye of the spirit, it is the world and its “faste orageux.” … A thousand imaginations, a thousand desires trouble his soul and like moreover, the objectes on which meander the thought, he does not hold to his cell, but searches for a remedy to his boredom not in God, but in the world. The masses run to this window which should be held closed, and such a man, famished by sich a long fast, who “apaise” his hunger in eating, he “reassasie” himself in chewing a thousand bits of news which were told to him. Like water which spouts from a crack in a cistern, words escape from his mouth; all the world comes to him and he “saura dicter” the laws to the universe.”

[Ep, I, 20, 97; LeClercq 320: this text gives a description of the effects of prayer on the soul and body, and the link between reading, prayer and meditation; this engenders love]

Fix all the attention of your soul on praying and by the foremost and principal good, accustom yourself to push away anything evil from you. Prayer ‘apaise’ the body and thanks to it, the ‘puissances’ of air are overcome, the most violent temptations are overcome with courage, evil thoughts are chased away like annoying flies, the ‘épaisses’ shadows of egypt are dispelled. Through prayer an invisible light shines out within the soul, the eye of the heart ceases to be blocked by the opacity of the body and no longer considers anything but celestial realities. In prayer, the human soul contemplates, as must as is permitted to man, the Spirit increases, which created all things. Such is the “celestial theory”. It cannot last for long. The benefit of prayer is a supernatural gift. It raises the soul above itself. To here, eventually, it falls back. It can only difficultly remain in this state for an hour or a half-hour. It is necessary that the prayer is followed by meditation where the spirit rests itself. Prayer is like the mistress, it presides. Meditation is like her helper, it is at her service and comes to her bidding and when the spirit is at rest in her, it rediscovers its strength. But meditation itself is completely spiritual. She has, in consequence, need of an interior care for her. She has recourse to the assistance of “lectio divina’. It remakes itself, and then, when the text is closed, she reconsiders what was being read and presents it to prayer like a servant does.

[Ep. I, 20, 98: contains discussion of preaching silently through texts]:

He preaches without opening his mouth, without interrupting his silence; he will bear the word of God to the ears of the nations, without leaving his cloister he passes across land and sea; he preaches in the public assemblies of the Church, in the secret of the cloister and in the corners of the houses he whispers to the ears of the servants of God. Each time that the books copied by him, men destroyed by pride, subjected to desire, filled with hatred, will be protected by him from these vices, or drived to repent bu him, they will come like …. The works of man, ordinairily find their end with the end of his life; but for him, they continue after his death the course of his holy works, he recalls the dead to life by that which survives of him.

[from Bruce, Silence] PV. “Just as the door opens or closes depending on necessity, thus should the door of your mouth be open to usefulness or closed to foolishness and empty words. It should be opened to the brethren for their edification and closed to the distraction of those voicing spiteful words or grumbling. It should be opened to the encouragement of visiting monks and closed to the talkativeness of the curious. In brief, one should only say useful things. If this is not an option, then the hermit should not disrupt his silence. (Ep. 20, p. 40-41, Ut sicut ostium…”