ROOM FOR SILENCE

In Assisi, since the autumn of 2006, there has been a statue of the contemplative Francis, part of a cycle of statues that Fiorenzo Bacci (www.fiorenzobacci.it ) has dedicated to the Canticle and episodes in Francis’s life, these have been scattered throughout Assisi and its surroundings. This statue is on a “grassy knoll” surrounded by olive trees to one side of the path that leads up from the car park in San Damiano,. It was donated by Calabria, a region that also gave the oil for Francis’s lamp for the whole of 2007.
Francis sits with his legs crossed and his hands open in his lap, looking out over the countryside beyond his beloved Portiuncola. I love this statue; it is the contemplative Francis, which, in the whirl of images and cheap goods sold by lay people and religious alike throughout his city, reminds us of his constant and silent prayer in “…his cell, with brother body” (Leggenda perugina 1636).
In the evening, when I walk up to vespers, I light a candle and put it in his lap. This daily devotion to the statue - though I do not like devotion to images which I see as a form of idolatry - leads me to notice the behaviour of people who pause to look at it and enter that silence, perhaps for a moment only. Some stop to read, set beside the statue, the information about Francis and how he came to write the Canticle at San Damiano; some timidly photograph it; some boldly step over the railing to walk around it and others sit beside it to pray and meditate, and sit there deep in contemplation, as if it were easier to be near Francis, not as a saint to whom one prays, but as a companion with whom to share that prayer.
After vespers, in the twilight, the candle lights up his face softly and then slowly burns down through the night; it bears witness to his vigil. For me and for many others, that statue is a reminder: it helps us remember the intimate Francis, as well as Clare, who from San Damiano watched over him with her “ceaseless prayer” as his steps took him all over the world.

I begin this particular page with this image, a page which I hope will slowly fill with your phrases, prayers and praise, whether or not you came as pilgrims, feeling the need to go beyond words, even the most holy and edifying ones, and enter that Sacred Space of Silence where only God speaks. In these pages you will find the links and addresses of various Christian communities which practice silent meditation, as well as the publication: “Appunti di viaggio”, which has been not only a valid source of information over the years, but is also a publisher (with the same name) producing really interesting books on spirituality. “Appunti di viaggio” has acted as a link between these various experiences that are still relatively unknown within the Church.

If you feel like adding to this “room for Silence” please write to me.

I make this appeal specifically to the Poor Clares who use Internet, a form of communication that, as we know, can serve good causes as well as evil ones. I turn to them because they are the daughters of Clare, a great teacher of silence.

Appunti di viaggio - bookshop and publisher
Tel. 06 47805030
www.appuntidiviaggio.it
appunti@appuntidiviaggio.it

scarica il .pdf con le informazioni su Appunti di Viaggio
scarica il .pdf con l'elenco dei libri sulla meditazione

World Community of Christian Meditation – ITALY
(followers of the teaching of John Main)
Tel. 030 224549 (mart. giov. 9.00-12-00)
www.meditazionecristiana.org
wccmitalia@virgilio.it

"Il Ponte sul Guado" - an association
(secondo l'insegnamento di Padre Andrea Schnoller)
Tel. 030 9517754 (mart. ven. 20.30-22.30)
elbravo@tiscali.it

Meditazione profonda e autoconosscenza
(followers of the teaching of F. Mariano Ballester)
www.mpa-net.it

Padri barnabiti di Eupilio (Co)
(followers of the teaching of F. Antonio Gentili)
Tel. 031 655602
info@barnabitieupilio.it