"Non in Commotione
Dominus" (3
Kings
By Plinio Corręa de Oliveira (*)
It is night. Imagine the complete
stillness that inhabits the darkness captured by this photograph. The soul feels
invited to reflection in such an atmosphere. The circumstances of daily life –
great or small, pleasant, tiresome, or even painful – all disappear. Alone, by
himself, man can overcome all these and enter into the superior realm of
recollection, reflection, and study.
It is an
austere and calm happiness. Quite simply, it is a true happiness.
This
happiness is vividly apparent in this picture. Three lights glow in the
picture. The least important of them is the one that properly merits the name
“light,” the candlelight. Its reflection on the book is the picture’s second
glowing light, creating the impression that the thoughts in the text have
become luminous.
The
candlelight and its reflection on the book illuminate the face, and thus we see
the third and most authentic light, that of an attentive and astute soul
engaged in reading. Analyzing this face, we see that it is calm, absorbed, and
happy.
It is, as
we said, the happiness of isolation and recollection, the happiness of
thinking.
* * *
Our forefathers were avid for this kind of happiness, but those who appreciate it today are becoming increasingly rare.
On the
contrary, the number of those who find pleasure only in noise, agitation, and
exhilarating sensations is growing.
champion.
Among all nationalities, ethnic groups, and races – among everyone today – the
general tendency is to think that this is happiness.
*
* *
Those who
know the pleasure of recollection are in possession of a precious prerequisite
for sanctification. “O blessed solitude, O sole blessedness!” said Saint
Bernard. But for those who live amidst perpetual turmoil and who neither know
nor want to live apart from it, so much racket drowns out the voice of grace.
"Non in commotione Dominus – God is not found in agitation” (3
Kings
(*) Catolicismo, no. 114, June
1960. Crusade,
Mar.-April 2001.