God And His Works

LONENESS—NOT LONELINESS

LAMARTINE tells us that solitude always helped to make him a better man and to draw him closer to God. All through his variegated career he felt this, and even when he was living with the most agreeable people and moving in entirely congenial society, he felt the need of finding that complete solitude which from his childhood had been one of life's necessities. " Nothing is worth an hour's quiet communing with oneself," he declares. " It was in the country that I sought and found it. There was not much beauty there certainly, but it was solitary; there were not many fine trees or beautiful flowers, but there was God and His works, and that was enough."

Link (here) to the full essay by Fr. David Bearne, S.J.