We never doubted the importance of each of the minutes spent with him. The meetings with Brother Vincent were a fragment of eternity. This friendship was born in silence, it grew in silence, and it continues to exist in silence. Brother Vincent knew that the wolves were lying in wait, that his friend needed him, that he was counting on him. The monks who cared for the Brother at every moment are certain that he remained alive for a few additional months so as to protect Robert Sarah better. The rays from paradise passed noiselessly through the windows of his room.ĭuring the last months of his life, the little patient prayed a lot for the cardinal. How can the mystery of Brother Vincent be understood? After so many trials, the end of his journey was peaceful. On Sunday, April 10, 2016, when Cardinal Sarah had come to Argenteuil for the conclusion of the exhibition of the Holy Tunic of Christ, Brother Vincent gave up his soul to God, surrounded by Father Emmanuel-Marie and his family. He was able to hear his breathing, husky and discordant, the attacks of pain, the last efforts of his heart, and to give him his blessing. ![]() Cardinal Sarah spoke again to Brother Vincent a few days before his death. The one spoke gently, and the other remained silent. When he was in Rome, the cardinal often called the Brother. ![]() The patient’s condition kept worsening, but the quality of the silence that sealed the dialogue of a great prelate and a little monk grew in an increasingly spiritual way. The cardinal returned several times to pray with his friend, Brother Vincent. It was necessary to get some air in order to accept God’s silent will, this hidden plan that was inexorably carrying off a young, good religious toward unknown shores, while his body lay tormented. That sunny autumn day, as we left the little room where the monks and the nurses ceaselessly took over from one another with extraordinary devotion, the Abbot of Lagrasse, Father Emmanuel-Marie, brought us into the monastery gardens, near the church. Brother Vincent’s bloodshot eyes already had the brightness of eternity. He could only contemplate him, steadily, tenderly, lovingly. He could only lift his gaze toward the cardinal. How could anyone forget Brother Vincent’s spiritual strength, his silence, the beauty of his smile, the cardinal’s emotion, the tears, the modesty, the colliding sentiments? Brother Vincent was incapable of uttering a simple sentence because the sickness deprived him of the use of speech. Right away he recognized an ardent soul, a hidden saint, a great friend of God. That day left a deep impression on Cardinal Sarah. Their first meeting had taken place on October 25, 2014. On this earth, Brother Vincent-Marie of the Resurrection was already living in the Great Silence of heaven. The smallest breath was an immense effort for him. In the prime of life, he found himself paralyzed, confined to his bed in the infirmary, condemned to merciless medical protocols. ![]() Shattered by multiple sclerosis, the young religious knew that he was reaching the end of his life. We were returning to Rome after spending several days in the Abbey in Lagrasse.Īt that magnificent monastery, located between Carcassonne and Narbonne, the cardinal paid a visit to his friend, Brother Vincent. Why did Robert Cardinal Sarah decide to devote a book to silence? We spoke for the first time about this beautiful subject in April 2015. The true revolution comes from silence it leads us toward God and others so as to place ourselves humbly and generously at their service." Read more "Silence is more important than any other human work," he says, "for it expresses God. Within the hushed and hallowed walls of the La Grande Chartreux, the famous Carthusian monastery in the French Alps, Cardinal Sarah addresses the following questions: Can those who do not know silence ever attain truth, beauty, or love? Do not wisdom, artistic vision, and devotion spring from silence, where the voice of God is heard in the depths of the human heart?Īfter the international success of God or Nothing, Cardinal Sarah seeks to restore to silence its place of honor and importance. ![]() Silence is the indispensable doorway to the divine, explains the cardinal in this profound conversation with Nicolas Diat. The modern world generates so much noise, he says, that seeking moments of silence has become both harder and more necessary than ever before. In a time when technology penetrates our lives in so many ways and materialism exerts such a powerful influence over us, Cardinal Robert Sarah presents a bold book about the strength of silence. Now with a new afterword by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI!
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