From social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X) this past week:

The silence required of the Christian is not fundamentally and primarily of human making. Rather, believers must realize that they already possess within themselves and at the same time in God the quiet, hidden “chamber” into which they are to enter (Mt 6:6). — Hans Urs von Balthasar

It is very cold. This morning it snowed. I was able to spend an hour in church, with a foot warmer—this is accepted in the country. And I returned with a supply of peace and silence that allowed me to spend a good morning in our room, despite the presence of the entire household. Perhaps if the circumstances do not lend themselves to prayer, the good Jesus will be willing to lend himself to it—and make his silence reign despite it all. — Raïssa Maritain

Do not set up barriers between the world and yourself… Penetrate deeply among people by sharing their life, by friendship and by love. Give yourself to them completely, like Jesus who came to serve and not to be served; you, too, become one with them. Then you will be like leaven which must lose itself in the dough to make it rise. — Little Sister Magdeleine of Jesus

I bore the name “Squirrel” which signified “joy and speed” to me… I spent some of the time in prayer applying this motto to my joyful and eager life by using this formula: “When I have done all my work, I shall ask for reward only ‘joy and eagerness’ in accepting God’s holy will.” — Marcel Văn