Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/478

 adds, by  silence  we  learn  to  speak  well. By silence  we learn  to  consider  well  what  we  shall  afterwards  say. But for  a  religious  who  wishes  to  become  a  saint,  what is the  time  for  silence  and  the  time  for  speaking? The hours of  silence  for  her  are  all  the  hours  in  which  there is no  necessity  for  speaking. The time  for  speaking  is when  necessity  or  charity  obliges  her  to  speak. Behold the excellent  rule  of  St.  John  Chrysostom:  "Then  only should  we  speak  when  it  is  more  useful  to  speak  than  to be  silent." a Hence  the  saint  gives  the  following  advice: "Either remain  silent,  or  say  what  is  more  profitable than  silence." Oh! happy he  who  at  death  can  say what the  monk  Pambo  said:  "That  he  did  not  remember  to  have  ever  uttered  a  word  which  he  was  sorry  for having  spoken." St. Arsenius  used  to  say  that  he often  repented  of  having  spoken,  but  never  of  having remained silent. St. Ephrem  gave  this  excellent  lesson to religious:  "Speak  a  great  deal  with  God,  and  little with  men." St. Mary  Magdalene  de  Pazzi  used  to  say the same:  "The  true  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  bears  all things;  she  labors  much,  and  speaks  little."

From all  that  has  been  said,  every  religious  that wishes to  live  in  union  with  God  may  see  with  what care she  should  shun  the  parlor. As the  air  that  is breathed  in  the  choir  or  in  the  cell  is  the  most  salubrious for  religious,  so  the  air  of  the  grates  is  for  them  the most pestiferous. And what  is  the  parlor  but  what  St. Mary  Magdalene  de  Pazzi  called  it,  a  place  of  distractions, inquietudes,  and  of  temptations. The Venerable