My Dear Friends,

“Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert…” (Luke 4:1) 

Listen…….pause for 30 seconds….don’t read any further and just listen…to silence…. 

That sound is so rare.  Many of us avoid silence.  I know there have been times in my life that I have avoided it, but yet the most blessed times I have had in my spiritual life are when I have embraced it.  Only in silence can we listen to the voice of God.  Only in silence can we listen to one another in a culture where we constantly try to yell over the other.  On this First Sunday of Lent, we journey with Jesus into the desert where the gospel tells us that he had no food and was tempted by the devil.  Another thing Jesus encountered in the desert was silence.  There was no better way to prepare for his bout with the devil and for his public ministry than to be embraced by the silence that allows the voice of the Father to be crystal clear. 

So why are we afraid of silence?  Why do feel the need to constantly fill our lives with noise?  We are told that friendships are fostered by good communication, but I have found that my greatest friends and I can be together in perfect silence in a car, at a restaurant, or just about anywhere and not say a word and yet communicate so much.  My grandfather was one of the gentlest souls I ever encountered, and he rarely spoke.  In the silence of his actions is how he communicated his greatest lessons.  My father and I, when we go fishing have sometimes gone through long periods of time without talking while our lines are in the water.  The only sound is the waves and the breeze.  It’s not that we have nothing to talk about.  Quite the contrary.  Silence at times speaks volumes and I’m not talking about passive aggressive silent treatment.  I’m talking about the silence that communicates so much love.  Just look at St. Joseph who said nothing in the Bible.  Look at the brief words of Mary who through her silence taught her son so much.  We need to make room in our lives for silence. 

This begins in prayer and in particular in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.  A few years ago, Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is the former perfection of the Congregation of Divine Worship in the Vatican, wrote an entire book about silence called, “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise.” In this book he said, “Christ lived for thirty years in silence. Then, during his public life, he withdrew to the desert to listen to and speak with his Father. The world vitally needs those who go off into the desert. Because God speaks in silence.”  Lent affords us the opportunity to go into the desert with Jesus, and as Cardinal Sarah says, the world needs us to go into the desert, so like Christ, having heard the voice of the Father, we can return to the world ready to spread the Good News. In another part of the book, Cardinal Sarah writes, “Through silence, we return to our heavenly origin, where there is nothing but calm, peace, repose, silent contemplation, and adoration of the radiant face of God.”  This is where our trips to the Adoration Chapel during this Lent can be so fruitful.  In that chapel, there is silence and contemplation which we all desperately need. I remember a few months ago being invited by one of our young parishioners to sit with them in the chapel.  Again, no words were exchanged among us. We just sat there in adoration of our Lord and in prayer. Our relationship/friendship strengthened by silence.  

This is our challenge this Lent: embracing silence in a noisy world.  As we journey with Jesus into the desert, we must make room for silence in our lives.  Sit in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel where a word is never spoken.  Go for a walk or a jog without your headphones and without music and just listen to the wind.  Listen to what our Lord listened to during his 40 days in the desert: nothing but silence that welcomes the voice of the Father.  

God bless you all,