Shhhhhh . . .
Silence is not only the absence of noise, it is essential in order to listen to God's word. Unless we are able to 'block out' the ever-increasing messages of social communication and mass-media, it is virtually impossible to hear the word of God or indeed reflect on it in a prayerful manner and therefore we are unable to act on it in our daily lives.
Silence is necessary for all of us in church. We need to preach the Gospel in word and action and so we must make room for silence in order to welcome God's word and discern what we are called to do as followers of Christ.
St Joseph is the Patron Saint of silence, foster-father of Jesus and husband of Mary. In the Gospels he does not utter a word. He listens . . . He reflects . . . He acts.
St Joseph welcomed the Word of God into his heart and mind. He welcomed Jesus, God's only Son, the Word made flesh into his family with fatherly care. The silence of St Joseph speaks louder than words.
If we wish to encourage vocations to the priesthood, the religious life, to marriage and the single state, we need to help men and women to find times and places where they can switch off the noise of today and tune in to the silence and peace of God.
'Be still and know that I am God.'
2 comments:
How conditioned am I! The first thing I did when I started watching the video was try to adjust the volume key on the pc as I couldn't hear anything! Of course, it is a SILENT video. So accustomed am I to everything being accompanied by sound.
Indeed silence is profound - almost tangible - allowing a prayerful or thoughtful moment not to be interrupted - something so rare in our society today. Let's keep the silence going.............
A very good point, Flick. I do agree.
We're so accustomed to a constant 'sound track' to our daily lives that when we are faced with silence, we think of it as 'something missing'. Whereas really silence in this instance, as an accompaniment or background to prayer is 'something added'.
It's also something that improves with practice, I feel. The more silence I experience, the more I seem to crave.
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