When surrounded by noise and even chaos, this interior disposition remains at peace. Throughout his life the monk has ever to struggle to attain to this silence, for in this silence there is love. Love, says St. Bernard, seeks no justification outside itself. Love is sufficient to itself, is pleasing in itself and for its own sake. Love is its own merit and its own reward.
Love seeks no cause outside itself and no results other than itself . . .
This love is the perfection of charity, the royal road which leads us to our final goal and happiness. Because love comes from God as its source and returns to Him as its end. God Himself is Love. Those, however, who may feel drawn to the outward silence of our life, in which they see a calm refuge for a secluded life, will experience frustration and even unhappiness. The holy silence which pervades monastic life finds its meaning and fulfilment in the inner peace of contemplative solitude.