The Father uttered
only one Word
Which was His Son
This Word speaks always
in eternal silence
And in silence is to be heard
by the soul.
St. John of the Cross
Today, the feast of St. John of the Cross, was our monthly Day of Adoration at the little chapel near Emmanuel Hermitage.
We start the Day with an early celebration of the Eucharist which is followed and prolonged by 12 hours of silent prayer before a Host consecrated during mass. People come in and kneel or sit for a few minutes in the silence; most remain for one hour, some for two hours, or even more.
Jesus shows and hides himself to us in the silence of the Host, in a presence so humble and simple that only faith can see Him.
Each person present in prayerful silence is a witness to their faith, a witness to the Mystery that hosts us in that sacred space, and also a witness to the mystery that we each one are.
Shared silence is as powerful as it is fragile; it is born when and where there is not only a silent atmosphere but also when everyone present embraces it by giving and receiving simultaneously the gift of prayerful silence in a form of shared intimacy.
It would take only one person to break the silence of all others present as we see it often happen in our parishes. This is how fragile it is.Silence has many dimensions and levels, so many that in a way the whole spiritual journey can be considered a journey into deeper and deeper silence.
The first and most obvious level of silence, and the easiest to reach even though not easy, is external silence, which is the absence of words, of music, and of every sound and noise that can be avoided.
External silence is an avenue that can put us directly in touch with our inner world, which has its own noises and conversations. To bring those inner voices to quiet is the work of a further and much more challenging level of silence that is, actually, as challenging as rewarding because this takes us to the realm of contemplation. In the silence of plans, insights, expectations, concerns, reflections, judgments, guilts, anxieties ... we can let go of everything and dwell in Faith, in a wordless, obscure, and paradoxical knowledge that, when we remove the layers that make up our lives, we come face to Face with Mystery in us and around us. And there we know that we don't know, and it's OK.
This encounter with Silence in the sanctuary of our inner silence may seem useless, a waste of life and time (here is again 'judgment' destroying silence) but in Faith we know that it is the most productive idleness if we allow it to be, if we allow Mystery, the Source of everything, to be and pray in us.
We don't create the Silence that dwells in us, but we can create the doorway to it with our inner silence, by letting go of our personal noise. This is the role of some forms of prayer like centering prayer, which is an exercise on befriending silence and quiet in ourselves by not responding to the noises knocking at the door of our inner sanctuary. Centering prayer is not contemplation, but it is a doorway to contemplation. Consecrate yourself to the silence of
Pure Love.
M. Maria Celeste - Dialog IX
