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" 185. Benedict XVI, in his homily during the Mass on the Feast of Corpus Domini, June 7, 2012, stated: To be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord present in his Sacrament is one of the most genuine experiences of our being Church, which is accompanied complementarily by the celebration of the Eucharist, by listening to the word of God, by singing and by approaching the table of the Bread of Life together. Communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go hand in hand. If I am truly to communicate with another person I must know him, I must be able to be in silence close to him, to listen to him and look at him lovingly. True love and true friendship are always nourished by the reciprocity of looks, of intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that the encounter may be lived profoundly and personally rather than superficially. "
― Robert Sarah , The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
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" 177. In the divine homeland, souls are completely united to God. They are nourished by the vision of him. Souls are completely taken by their love for God in absolute delight. There is a great silence because souls have no need for words in order to be united to God. Anguish, passions, fears, sorrows, jealousies, hatreds, and impulses disappear. Nothing exists except the unique heart-to-heart with God. The embrace of souls and God is eternal. Heaven is the heart of God. And this heart is silent forever. God is perfect tenderness that has no need of any speech in order to be diffused. Paradise is like a huge burning bush that is never consumed, however forcefully the love that burns there spreads. There above, love burns with an innocent flame, with a pure desire to love infinitely and to plunge into the intimate depth of the Trinity. "
― Robert Sarah , The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
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" 180. Saint Augustine’s prayer for the dead is particularly beautiful: If you knew the gift of God and what heaven is. If you could hear the song of the angels from here and see me in the midst of them. If you could see unfolding before your eyes the horizons and eternal fields, the new paths where I walk! If, for a moment, you could contemplate as I do the beauty before which all beauties pale. What? You saw me, you loved me in the country of shadows, and you could not see me or love me in the country of immutable realities! Believe me, when death comes to break your bonds as it broke those that chained me and when, on a day that God knows and that he has determined, your soul comes into this heaven where mine has preceded, on that day you will see me again, you will find my affection purified. God forbid that upon entering a happier life, unfaithful to the memories and the true joys of my other life, I became less loving. You will see me again, then, transfigured into ecstasy and happiness, no longer awaiting death, but advancing moment to moment with you into new paths of Light and Life. Wipe away your tears, and weep no more if you love me. "
― Robert Sarah , The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise