Learn from a saint how to find God and stay united with Him at all times. Saint Alphonsus Liguori’s, The 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation, will guide you gently along the stairway to Heaven as he discloses to you the secrets of holiness and salvation. Here, the saint discusses recollection and how to maintain a recollected spirit at all times.
Three Necessities
To preserve recollection of spirit or the constant union of the soul with God, three things are necessary: solitude, silence, and the recollection of the presence of God. It was these three things which the angel of God referred to when, addressing St. Arsenius, he said: “Flee, be silent and rest.” In other words: seek solitude, practice silence, and rest in God by keeping the thought of His presence ever before you.
Souls that love God feel a strong attraction for solitude, for they know that God converses familiarly with those who shun the noise and distractions of the world. “O blessed solitude,” exclaims St. Jerome, “in which God with loving condescension deals familiarly with chosen souls!” God does not speak in those places where time is squandered in loud laughter and idle talk. “The Lord is not in the earthquake” (3 Kgs. 19:11), but He says, on the contrary, in the words of the prophet Osee: “I will lead her into the wilderness and I will speak to her heart.” (Osee 2:14). God speaks to the soul in solitude, and by His words the heart is inflamed with divine love. “My soul melted when my beloved spoke,” said the spouse in the Canticle (5:6).
St. Eucherius relates that a person who desired to be perfect once asked a spiritual director what he had to do, and this was the answer he received: “Solitude is the place where man finds God. In solitude, virtue is easily preserved; in intercourse with the world it is easily lost.” St. Bernard tells us that he learned more about God and divine things in solitude under the oaks and beeches than from the books and schools of the learned. For this reason the Saints felt an irresistible yearning to leave the noise and bustle of the world and retire into solitude; for this reason the mountains and forests and caves were inexpressibly dear to them. In the prophecy of Isaias we read: “The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it; the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.” (Is. 35:1). In other words, for interior souls, solitude is the source of abundant delights, for it is there they look upon and contemplate the majesty and beauty of God.
THE THOUGHT OF GOD
In order to remain united to God, we must endeavor to keep alive within us a vivid recollection of Him and of the immeasurable goods He bestows on them that love Him. By constant intercourse with the world, these spiritual truths are apt to become obscured in the maze of earthly thoughts and considerations, and piety vanishes from the heart. Worldly-minded people shun solitude, and it is quite natural for them to do so; for it is in retirement that they are troubled with qualms of conscience. They seek the society and excitement of the world so that the voice of conscience may be drowned in the noise that reigns there. Those, on the contrary, whose conscience is at rest, love solitude and retirement; and when at times they are obliged by circumstances to appear in the noisy world, they are ill at ease and feel altogether out of their element.
It is true, man naturally loves the society of his fellow man; but what can be found more beautiful than the society of God? “His conversation hath no bitterness,” says Holy Scripture, “and his company no tediousness, but joy and gladness.” (Wis. 8:16). A life of solitude is not a life of sadness; it is rather a foretaste of Heaven; it is the beginning of the life of the blessed whose sole happiness is found in the love and praise of God. This is what St. Jerome said when he fled from the society of Rome and hid himself in the grotto of Bethlehem: “Solitude is my Heaven,” he wrote. In solitude the Saints seem to be entirely alone, but this is not so. St. Bernard said: “Never am I less alone than when alone”; for when I am alone I am with God, who gives me greater joy than the society of all creatures could afford. If the Saints seem to be sad, in reality they are not so. Because the world sees them deprived of all earthly joys and pleasures, it regards them as most unhappy; and yet the very opposite is the case.
According to the words of the Apostle, they enjoy a constant and immeasurable peace. (2 Thess. 3:16). Now, in order to find this delightful solitude it is not necessary to withdraw into a desert and live in a cave; you can find it in your home and in the midst of your family. Busy yourself with the outside world only in as far as the duties of your state, obedience, or charity require, and you will be living in that solitude that best accords with your circumstances and that God requires of you.
HOW TO FIND GOD
Many complain that they are unable to find God, but to such St. Teresa replies: “Tear your heart away from everything else; then seek God and you will surely find Him.” If a crystal vase is filled with earth, the rays of the sun cannot penetrate it. The light of God cannot illumine a heart that is full of attachments for the joys, the pleasures and the honors of this world. “When thou shalt pray,” says Our Lord, “enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret.” (Matt. 6:6). In other words, to be united to God in prayer, man must enter into his own heart—which St. Augustine says is the chamber mentioned by Our Lord—and shut out all earthly attachments and inclinations. It is not to be supposed that solitude and retirement are synonymous with idleness. Many live in retirement, but it is an inactive and useless retirement of which they shall have to render an account. Devout souls, on the contrary, are like bees that are never tired preparing honey for their cells. No time must be lost, but every moment employed in praying, in reading or in performing the duties of your state of life.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation by Saint Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
