We live in an ever-increasing
noisy world. With social media, Netflix, emails and people we are surrounded by
sound all the time. On those rare occasions when we might get the opportunity for
silence many instinctively fill the void by watching YouTube, putting the car
radio on or calling someone up on the phone. Noise it would seem is not just
everywhere, there is also a sense in which we want it - it’s as if we are afraid
of what we might face in the silence. What is more, noise is not always audible.
This might seem like a bit of contradiction, after all, is noise not sound by
definition? Well perhaps on one level it is, but on another level, a spiritual
level, noise also refers to the busy-ness that we fill our lives with. The books
and articles we read, even spiritual ones – the work that we do, the things that
we have. In short, our thoughts can simply become noise and can block out a certain
degree of reality by filling our mind with noise. This is problem, not least, because
the ultimate reality that is shut out is
God. Noise destroys silence and silence is the language of God.
It is in the silence
of our hearts, the silence of our souls, that we encounter most fully and
intimately the divine presence. Silence connects us to the still, small, silent
voice of God who resides in the depths of our hearts.
I firmly believe that
as Christians we need to learn to be people who shut-up in the presence of God.
When we love someone or are best friends with someone it is not always necessary
to speak – we can see this in couples who have been together for a long time –
often it is enough simply to sit and be in each other’s presence, simply being with the other, that is enough.
I think that we lose
something profound and important when we lose the ability to simply sit and be.
Furthermore, one of the big problems
that relates to the loss of silence in our world is the confusion that has
arisen between function and being. Put simply, our world, our society and even
our Church at times seems obsessed with what we do, how successful we are and
how productive we are. Ask people how they are, and you invariably get the
response ‘busy’ – I’m guilty of it myself. Busy-ness has been turned into a virtue
– we feel like we should busy doing stuff all the time. Yet, being busy,
filling our time with stuff – even stuff “for the gospel” is not a virtue. In
fact, that latter, can be detrimental because the whole gospel endeavour can quickly
become about us, about our initiative, and how much we are doing – whilst all
the time ignoring that God is the one who is in charge, God is the source, God
is the reason – not us.
I am utterly
convinced that serious spiritual development cannot take place without silence.
One of the things that I try to instil into my own parish community is the
need for silence in and around Church and Mass. Silence and reverence are in inextricably
related. It is hard to pray in a Church if the people around you are talking
incessantly or worse, they try and talk to you whilst you are trying to talk to
God!
We have lost, it
seems, the instinctive silence and indeed reverence that is required for prayer
and worship. It is wonderful that we have vibrant and joyful communities that
are happy to see each other and share the weeks news, but this should never
happen at the expense of being quiet, still and silent in the presence of God.
The fact that our churches contain the greatest of all treasures – Jesus Himself,
truly and sacramentally present should invoke real silence and reverence. Sadly,
it seems so often that presence of Christ in his Church is obscured by the din
of a social gathering rather than revered by prayerful and reverential silence.
In short, we live
in a world of noise, but the God of silence calls us out of this noise into a
place of rest and peace. If we as individuals and as a Church are to be everything
that we are created to be, perhaps we all need to learn and re-learn to shut-up
in the presence of God!
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