Silence
Silence is the school of meditation and contemplation. It is likewise the source of compunction of heart, for it is in silence that the soul sees unveiled the miseries and infirmities that wound the eyes of God.
May all the virgins of the Precious Blood, whose tongues are consecrated to singing the praises of the Lord and are empurpled each morning with the Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion, avoid every voluntary transgression of this blessed law of silence, that has ever been so admirably respected and maintained by all good religious!
It is of infinite importance, then, to observe the rule of silence, not only with a most rigorous exactitude but with joy, for it is silence that protects from trouble, prevents murmuring, failings in fraternal charity, reports, false or more or less exaggerated, and finally, whatever is of a nature to divide spirits and lead to the decay of even the most fervent Communities.
Besides this inestimable advantage, silence makes of a religious community a true earthly paradise where Our Lord takes His delight, rejoicing in the peace that reigns there, gathering the beautiful virtues that flourish there and being inebriated with their sweet perfume.
Should not we, His spouses, called by our vocation to converse with Him during long hours of prayer, hold in great esteem that silence which so favors recollection? Yes, the contemplative virgin should find her happiness in conversing, not with men, but with Him Who has led her into solitude that He may speak with her, heart to Heart, and reveal to her His divine secrets.
Since union with God, precious fruit of silence, could not exist if calmness did not reign within and around us, we must, by a vigilant mortification of the tongue and of the imagination, repress without ceasing the too great love of talking as well as the curious desire of knowing everything.