Jean Vanier Quotes

A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized prayer is listening.

The first requirement for prayer is silence. People of prayer are people of silence.

The beginning of prayer is silence.

The beginning of prayer is silence. If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks. And to be able to see that silence, to be able to hear God we need a clean heart; for a clean heart can see God, can hear God, can listen to God; and then only from the fullness of our heart can we speak to God. But we cannot speak unless we have listened, unless we have made that connection with God in the silence of our heart.

Souls of prayer are souls of great silence

The disciplines of prayer, silence, and contemplation as practiced by the monastics and mystics are precisely that - stopping the noise, slowing down, and becoming still so that God can break through all our activity and noise to speak to us. Prayer serves to put all parts of our lives in God's presence, reminding us how holy our humanity really is.

The fruit of Silence is Prayer.

I think I'm a spiritual person. I don't really go to church often when services are on, but I like going in when they are empty and quiet, and just sitting there and thinking for a little while.

Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God.

There is so much noise in the world! May we learn to be silent in our hearts and before God.

The word must be heard in silence; there must be darkness to see the stars.

Coming before God in quietness & waiting upon Him in silence often can accomplish more than days of feverish activity.

When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer. My whole silence is full of prayer. The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer.

I pray. Prayer is a time to connect with the divine, but also time, I'm sure, to concentrate one's thoughts, to meditate, and to imagine what might be.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

True silence is a garden enclosed, where alone the soul can meet its God.

I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own.

He got right down in the dark between heartbeats, and rested there. And then he saw that another one wasn't going to come. That's it. That's the last. He looked at the dark. I would like to take this opportunity, he said, to pray for another human being.

There is no need to get to a place of prayer; pray wherever you are.

Prayer unfolds in the stillness of the soul.

Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness. Listen to God. Adore Him in the Eucharist.

At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred space and use it, eventually something will happen. Your sacred space is where you find yourself again and again.

Silence is so accurate.

You haven't partied until you've partied at dawn in complete silence with Buddhist monks.

Prayer gives a man the opportunity of getting to know a gentleman he hardly ever meets. I do not mean his maker, but himself.