As I wrote last week, I am away on my yearly priest retreat. I thank you all for the prayers that have been pouring down upon me and my bother priests this week. I am, of course, writing in advance because I am living the silent gift of retreat, so this reflection is one of hope for a fruitful retreat filled with many spiritual gifts.
Cardinal Sarah reminds us that we are called to be gifts to the other. It is a choice to love sacrificially in donation of self to the other, God first and we to follow. As I have noted before, the gift of silence in hearing God is to stand gently in the presence of God. When the prophet Elijah was confronted with the silence of God, he came out of the cave when the noise of the world had passed and stood listening to the gentle soft call of the Lord. (1 Kings 19:11-14) This is the choice we are all called to make, “The choice of silence is their gift for humanity. The men and women who enter into the silence offer themselves as a holocaust for their brethren. The exterior world is like an overflowing river running down a slope and threatening to smash everything in its path. In order to control this force, it is necessary to build dikes. And silence is this powerful dike the controls the tumultuous waters of the world and protects from noises and distractions of all sorts. Silence is a dam that restore a kind of dignity to mankind.” (#109 “The Power of Silence” Robert Cardinal Sarah)
The holocaust of life is the spending of our lives in service of the other. To allow ourselves to become buffers for others against the temptations and sins of life in choosing the vocation of holiness. This is the path of life where we choose to embrace the cross in hopeful joy, a cross that offers us the Eucharist of life drawing closer to God and our sisters and brothers. “The way of perfection passes by way of the cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living the peace and joy of the Beatitudes.” (CCC #2015) Like anything worthwhile, the discipline and effort required for a holy life needs a foundation of time and spiritual works. This is a path each Christian needs to follow. The life of spiritual progress does entail the small battles of being to tired, distracted or to lazy to do our daily prayers. It may be a greater battle of the teenager/or adult that is refusing to go to Mass tempts us to stay away and is dragging the family away from God’s love. It can even be greater battles where Satan seeks to rupture the unity of family and community through grave and mortal sin. These battles are real and need to be taken seriously so we may know the way and return to God’s healing silence when we have fallen.
If we don’t know and take time with God in fighting the battles of holiness then what Cardinal Sarah writes becomes reality unless we take up our cross daily and follow Him. “Persons who live in noise are like dust swept along by the wind They are slaves of a turmoil that destroys their relationships with God. On the other hand, those who love silence and solitude walk step by step toward God; they know how to break the vicious circles of noise, like animal tamers who manage to calm roaring lions.” (#110 “The Power of Silence” Robert Cardinal Sarah)
This is the hope for each and every Christian: to be in silence with God. Take time to retreat into silence as an individual, married couple and even the whole family. Take time daily and weekly to set aside quiet time, as an individual, married couple and family to silence the house and focus on God through prayer and love. Take time to pray for those around us, family, friend, neighbor, stranger or enemy to place them in the silence of God’s love.
Once more, thank you for your prayers of blessing…I can assure you that I will hear them in the silence of God’s love. See you in the Eucharist.
God Bless
Fr. Mark