We live in a very noisy world.  I know this from experience.  I live right across the street from the Riverline, so I hear that train go past my residence many times a day.  Plus we have the noise of all our gadgets, which I am the first to admit I like.  Even as I sit to write this column, I have music playing in the background.

    Recently, however, the theme of silence has come up quite a bit in my life.  In his first audience of the new year, Pope Francis talked about the importance of silence, and encouraged all the faithful to practice silence.  I also recently finished reading a wonderful book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, but Robert Cardinal Sarah and Nicolas Diat.

    Cardinal Sarah is the Prefect for the Office of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Vatican, and is from Africa.  The book is basically an interview with the reporter Nicolas Diat.  For Cardinal Sarah, “although speech characterizes man, silence is what defines him, because speech acquires sense only in terms of this silence.”  Cardinal Sarah sums up the aim of his book in this way:

“Silence is difficult, but it makes man able to allow himself to be led by God.  Silence is born of silence.  Through God the silent one, we can gain access to silence.  An man is unceasingly surprised by the light that bursts forth then.  Silence is more important than any other human work.  For it expresses God.  The true revolution comes from silence; it leads us toward God and others so as to place ourselves humbly and generously at their service” (Thought 68, The Power of Silence).

    Certainly being quiet is a condition of silence, but it is not silence itself.  To be silent we need to quiet external noise, physical noise, and internal noise to the best of our ability.  We quiet the external noise by turning off the TV, radio, computer, etc. and try to find a place that quiets most outside noises.  Physical noise is the noise of our body.  For example, I have tinnitus, a constant ringing in my ears, plus I have bad knees.  I cannot make those things go away, but to quiet the physical noise I try not to pay attention to those physical sensations.  Then there is the internal noise of the thoughts that seem to be constantly running through our heads.  Mine are often thoughts about what I need to get done, or how I might have done something differently.  All these noises need to be quieted in order for us to have a chance of experiencing silence, but that quietness is not silence itself.  “Silence is a word, silence is a thought.  It is a word and a thought in which all words and all thoughts are concentrated.”  It is in silence that we encounter God.

    Silence is a skill, and like any skill it requires time and practice, and that is what the Holy Father was calling us to start doing to counteract the dictatorship of our noisy world.  It begins simply by setting aside a few minutes to practice silence.  How long do you think you can go?

    The Church can also help us foster the skill of silence.  One of the reforms called for in the liturgy is the practice of “sacred silence.”  I have asked the deacons, and the music ministry to help me in being better at fostering “sacred silence” in Mass.  It begins with when we enter Mass.  When we get into the church we should not engage in needless talking.  We should recollect ourselves; invite the silent God into our soul.  I have been trying to find a quiet place before Mass to do this myself.  I have also been trying to pause for a longer time when I say “Let us pray” so that we can create some silence there.  Our readers are good at pausing after the reading to allow some silence so that the Word of God we just heard can enter into our hearts.  After holy communion, after I dismiss those taking Holy Communion to the Homebound, I have asked the music ministry not to play any music, so that in the quiet we can form the silence to encounter the Lord whom we have just received in the Eucharist.

    I have been practicing silenced more consciously for the past couple of months, and I have found a great peace and calmness in life, even when it get hectic.  I pray that all of you will also encounter the peace and calm that comes from God as you practice silence in your lives.