“There is one great question: how can man really be in the image of God? He must enter into silence.
When he drapes himself in silence, as God himself dwells in a great silence, man is close to heaven, or rare, he allows God to manifest himself in him.
We encounter God only in the internal silence in which he abides.” (p 21)
This quote comes from “The Power of Silence” by Robert Cardinal Sarah and is challenging to modern society in general but is especially challenging to us as individuals who are often surround by noise.
I received this book earlier this week and have begun the slow and long process of bringing the questions, the insights and the challenges into my spiritual life. This is how God often works in our life, He gives us a small hint about what we need to get closer to him (silence) and then follows it with another to make sure we know this is what we need to do. The second hint upon ordering the book was an article entitled “Social Media Could be Killing Your Spiritual Life” from www.relevantmagazine.com which simply reinforced what I already knew but kept avoiding…too much noise is surrounding my life.
Now admittedly I am not very far into Carinal Sarah’s book but we may I think interchange the word silence with quiet or peacefulness. Because silence isn’t just about audio noise, it is the constant distraction of the eyes and all the senses that bombard our souls with a “busyness” that does not allow us to stop, ponder and stand in awe of the great and small miracles God shares with us each day.
Just a small personal story. I normally start my morning with prayer, (I know a great surprise) followed by morning exercise. It is a wonderful way to be quiet, to sit in the silence of God and to allow the peace of God’s presence to enter into my life before the hectic pace of the day begins. Over the last month my silence has been disturbed…by my lack of self-control…and my spiritual life has suffered. I have been falling into the bad habit of picking up my phone and checking social media before I begin my prayer…this takes time away from prayer, from the spiritual and physical exercise I need to be the good man and priest God calls me to be. I can make the excuse of it only is a few minutes (or 30) but the truth is, when I can honestly reflect on the habit, it places the world before God. I am not following the great commandment, “The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mk 12:30) Simply put, I allow myself to live in the pain of sin that St. Paul described so well, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Rm 7:15)
What are we to do? Well for me I must have the courage to begin once more the practice that I know feeds my soul and brings me into more fruitful and loving relationships with God and the people around me. We remember as Cardinal Sarah points out, “Silence is not an absence. On the contrary it is the manifestation of a presence, the most intense of all presences…the real questions in life are posed in silence. Our blood flows through our veins without making any noise, and we can hear our heartbeats only in silence.” (p 27)
Each of us is called into the great silence to hear the heartbeat of God’s love for us. It is entering into intense and fruitful conversations which only begins in the silence of the truth discovered in the eternal love of God.
How did I begin this morning? Once more in silence…resisting the urge to check the distraction of the phone (or whatever)…checking in with God: pondering, questioning and listening in the awe of silence. And then praying for the courage to do it again and again.

God Bless
Fr. Mark