Improving on the Silence
My Dear People,
When in Chicago recently, I had a chance to hear an old seminary friend speak, the Reverend Charles LaFond. Once a novice monk with the Society of St. John the Evangelist, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charles is a person of great spiritual depth and insight (and wit, incidentally). And something he said that day has stayed with me.
He was talking about talking, as a matter of fact; i.e., when to talk, and when not to talk. What Charles said was similar to things (formulations) I have heard before, and yet it was different. It consisted of three questions, the final one being, for me, fresh and disarming:
1) Is it necessary?
2) Is it kind?
3) Does it improve on the silence?
I know I could stand to talk less. And as to whether what I say improves on the silence, well, let’s just put it this way: I’m sure I could stand to spend more time with that question:
Does it improve on the silence?
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
