Into Great Silence

I had the privilege of watching the film "Into Great Silence" the other day.

It was absolutely stunning.


For those who haven't heard about it; it's a film of the daily life of Cathrusian monks living in Grand Chartreuse Monastery in the French Alps. The Carthusian Order was founded in 1084 by St. Bruno. The Carthusians lead a solitary and contemplative life, and, although they do not take a vow of silence, they are encouraged to speak only when absolutely necessary.

I hesitate to say the film was "silent" because, although there was only about 5 minutes of human voice in the entire 162 minutes film, it speaks volumes to the soul.

It has lots of beautiful chant, as seen in the clip above, and lots of natural sounds (birds, rain, foot-steps).

It was cinematographically exquisite and extremely spiritually edifying and refreshing. It calms the soul and puts life back into perspective.

It was like having been on a retreat for a weekend and it truthfully affected me in a very deep way.

It was...wow!


Here a just a few things that stuck me;


The incredible care and patience with which the monks did everything.
Every task, every action was done carefully, in a calm and measured way, and to their human perfection.
Nothing was done rushed and sloppy; whether it be chopping the vegetables, mending a broken shoe or cutting each other's hair. Everything was done with care and love.

Every action was offered to God, and thus done to the best of their ability.

You should've seen the love with which they made the sign of the cross; each action purposeful and deliberate.

Even opening books to lay them on the table was done gently, patiently, neatly and calmly.

It was beautiful to witness, and really gave me an example of how everything should be done properly to be offered to God. In that way, everything you do is a prayer, given to the Lord.


I was also very deeply struck by their love for each other. In the very few occasions when you heard one of the monks speaking, the sound of their voices was so saturated with love.
That's how I imagine Jesus would speak; no matter what he was saying, the love in his voice almost palatable.


I was also struck by their deep inner calm and stillness of soul. There was one scene in particular; a young novice sawing through a big trunk of wood. He was obviously finding it quite difficult to saw through and was using all his strength, and when he manages to saw all the way through he stops for a second to mop his brow, and you get a close up shot of his face, and his eyes and demeanour are so calm and still.....I just found it really moving.

Finally, their lives are so full!
Not that I expected them to be empty or anything, but I was just struck by how they live every moment!

This is in contrast to my life, where I waste vast vast quantities of times doing....nothing really.

With them every moment is a prayer, every moment is offered to God; they are aware of the Lord's presence at all times, and use every moment to love Him.



It is a beautiful film, it is spiritually nourishing and will affect you deeply, if you allow yourself to enter into the silence.


If you have the opportunity, make time for it.
It's worth it.