Guigo II

Guigo II was a Carthusian monk and the 9th prior of Grande Chartreuse monastery, from 1174 to 1180.

Quotes

Ladder of Monks

Scala Claustralium as translated by Edmund Colledge, OSA and James Walsh, SJ (Cistercian Publications: 1979)

• Reading seeks for the sweetness of a blessed life, meditation perceives it, prayer asks for it, contemplation tastes it.
  • p. 68

• There is little sweetness in the study of the literal sense, unless there be a commentary, which is found in the heart, to reveal the inward sense.
  • p. 76

• What is the use of spending one's time in continuous reading, turning the pages of the lives and sayings of holy men, unless we can extract nourishment from them by chewing and digesting this food so that its strength can pass into our inmost heart?
  • p. 80

• O my God, so good and tender and kind, dear friend, wise counselor, powerful support, how heartless and rash is the man who rejects you, who casts from his heart so humble and gentle a guest!
  • p. 85

Twelve Meditations

• Let him sit alone, the Scripture says; and indeed, unless he sits and rests, he will not be alone.
  • p. 90

• He who is mounted on pride does not know how to sit still.
  • p. 90

• He who is not alone cannot be silent. And he who is not silent cannot hear you when you speak to him.
  • p. 90

• Let all my world be silent in your presence, Lord, so that I may hear what the Lord God may say in my heart. Your words are so softly spoken that no one can hear them except in deep silence.
  • p. 90