I was very pleased with your letter; may our Lord reward you for it. The reason I haven't written is not a lack of goodwill, for I truly desire your great good, but because it seemed to me that a lot has already been written so that we could work on what is truly important, and that what is missing, if anything is missing, is not writing or speaking, for there is usually an abundance of that, but silence and action. (…) What we need most is to be silent both in spirit and in speech before this great God, whose language, which He hears, is only silent love.
(John of the Cross, letter to the Discalced Carmelites in Beas, November 22, 1587)
