We ask you, urgently: don't scroll past this
Dear readers, Catholic Online was de-platformed by Shopify for our pro-life beliefs. They shut down our Catholic Online, Catholic Online School, Prayer Candles, and Catholic Online Learning Resources essential faith tools serving over 1.4 million students and millions of families worldwide. Our founders, now in their 70's, just gave their entire life savings to protect this mission. But fewer than 2% of readers donate. If everyone gave just $5, the cost of a coffee, we could rebuild stronger and keep Catholic education free for all. Stand with us in faith. Thank you.Help Now >
Silence
FREE Catholic Classes
All writers on the spiritual life uniformly recommend, nay, command under penalty of total failure, the practice of silence. And yet, despite this there is perhaps no rule for spiritual advancement more inveighed against, by those who have not even mastered its rudiments, than that of silence. Even under the old Dispensation its value was known, taught, and practised. Holy Scripture warns us of the perils of the tongue, as "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" ( Proverbs 18:21 ). Nor is this advice less insisted on in the New Testament ; witness : "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man " (St. James 3:2 sq.). The same doctrine is inculcated in innumerable other places of the inspired writings. The pagans themselves understood the dangers arising from unguarded speech. Pythagoras imposed a strict rule of silence on his disciples ; the vestal virgins also were bound to severe silence for long years. Many similar examples could be quoted.
Silence may be viewed from a threefold standpoint:
- As an aid to the practice of good , for we keep silence with man, in order the better to speak with God, because an unguarded tongue dissipates the soul, rendering the mind almost, if not quite, incapable of prayer. The mere abstaining from speech, without this purpose, would be that "idle silence" which St. Ambrose so strongly condemns.
- As a preventative of evil . Senica, quoted by Thomas à Kempis complains that "As often as I have been amongst men, I have returned less a man" (Imitation, Book I, c. 20).
- The practice of silence involves much self-denial and restraint, and is therefore a wholesome penance , and as such is needed by all.
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
- Easter / Lent
- Ascension Day
- 7 Morning Prayers
- Mysteries of the Rosary
- Litany of the Bl. Virgin Mary
- Popular Saints
- Popular Prayers
- Female Saints
- Saint Feast Days by Month
- Stations of the Cross
- St. Francis of Assisi
- St. Michael the Archangel
- The Apostles' Creed
- Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony
- Pray the Rosary

Nearly Half of American Children Now Struggle with Chronic Health Issues — Anxiety and Depression Lead the Surge

Vatican Approves Devotion to Marian Apparitions in Slovakia—Without Declaring Them Supernatural

Pope Leo XIV: AI Must Uphold Human Dignity and Build a More Fraternal World
Daily Catholic
Daily Readings for Friday, July 11, 2025
St. Benedict of Nursia: Saint of the Day for Friday, July 11, 2025
Infant Jesus of Prague Novena Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Friday, July 11, 2025
Daily Readings for Thursday, July 10, 2025
Bl. Emmanuel Ruiz: Saint of the Day for Thursday, July 10, 2025
- Prayer to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart: Prayer of the Day for Thursday, July 10, 2025
Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2025 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.