Above all, let us love solitude and recollection. We have no right, indeed, to fly from common life and the occupations which obedience enjoins; yet whilst showing ourselves obliging towards our brethren and conscientious in performing our work and the duties of our charge, let us avoid pouring ourselves forth too much on outward things and being absorbed by them; without giving way to injurious intensity of thought, let us collect within us all the powers of our soul in order to keep them attentive to God. Our model ought to be our glorious Father St. Benedict, who, on returning to his well-beloved solitude, dwelt with himself alone under the eye of the heavenly Watcher. There, shutting the doors and avenues of our soul by silence, modesty and recollection, let us make to ourselves an inner sanctuary entirely filled with God, and let us learn to entertain the infinitely great and infinitely loving Guest who dwells within us.