“The Holy Spirit wants to give Christians a ‘new and divine holiness’
at the Dawn of the Third Millennium” - Pope John Paul II
To Conchita (Ven. Maria Concepcion Cabrera de Armida), Jesus speaks of “the inner
cloister”:
“I want to make you a saint known to Me alone. That is why I take care of you, advise you,
direct you, watch over you...I want you to be a mirror of hidden virtues ...nothing external. “You
are to live cloistered in the very inner sanctuary of your souls, for there is where dwells the Holy
Spirit. It is in this sanctuary you must live and die. There are your delights, your consolations,
your repose. Do not look elsewhere for it. You will never find it.”
“From today on, enter into the innermost regions of your soul, into those areas so
unknown to so many others, but where is found that happiness which I am. Enter into it never to
leave it. And here is the path which will lead you there: the inner...”
“Here is your cloister, your religious perfection. It is not enough to immure your body, to be
a nun....The ‘inner cloister’ is essential for the sanctification of the soul within to be all Mine.
You must never leave this inner sanctuary, even in the midst of your outside obligations.”
“There, in this sanctuary, which no one sees, is found true virtue and consequently the
contemplation of God and the dwelling of the Holy Spirit.” (Conchita, A Mother’s Spiritual Diary,
8/15/1897)
Ven. Mother Louise Margaret Claret de la Touche (1868-1915) spoke about the interior
life in her book containing messages from Our Lord, “The Love and Service of God Infinite
Love”. She says, “The interior life does not consist, as some people wrongfully think, in the
suppression of all activity; if that were so, it would be incompatible with good works, which are
the fruit of charity. The interior life can be established and maintained in the midst of the most
exacting employments, and many Saints who have added luster to the Church have prove this by
their lives which were filled with holy works and, which were at the same time, altogether
interior.” She goes on to say, “Let us unite ourselves with the Virgin Mary and, like her,
completely recollected in our interior, let us seek Jesus, Who reposes there in silence and in
peace. Let us think of the sentiments of Mary, and like her, detaching our souls more and more
from the exterior, passing things of time, let us live with the Divine Master that interior life
which will be for us a prelude of the life of happiness in Heaven.”
St. Faustina was told by her confessor, “Let God push your boat out into the deep waters,
toward the unfathomable depths of the interior life.”
From the writings of St. Louis Marie de Montfort: “Because Mary remained hidden
during her life, she is called by the Holy Spirit and the Church, Alma Mater, Mother hidden and
unknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing more upon earth than to remain
unknown to herself and to others, and to be known only to God.”
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity speaks of interior silence saying, “It seems to me, that to
keep one’s strength for the Lord is to unify one’s whole being by means of interior silence, to
collect all one’s powers in order to employ them in the one work of love, to have this single eye
which allows the light of God to enlighten us. A soul that debates with its self, that is taken up
with its feelings, and pursues useless thoughts sand desires, scatters it forces, for it is not wholly
directed toward God. Its lyre does not vibrate in unison and when the Master plays it, He cannot
draw from it divine harmonies, for it is still too human and discordant...How indispensable this
beautiful inner unity is for the soul that wants to live here below the life of the blessed....”
Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta: “...to be able to rest in God, inner silence is necessary...”
“But what is this inner silence? It is to silence our own passions by holding them in check; to
impose silence on desires, inclinations and sentiments; in summary, on everything which does
not call God.” (vol. 3, 5/20/1900)
Luke 17:20: “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will
announce, ‘Look, here it is’ or ‘there it is’.”
Luke 2:19: “And Mary kept in mind all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Lynne Bauer, 1998
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