The Problem of Silence

Let me start off by saying that I don’t think that silence is a bad thing — in fact, I think that silence is an essential part of establishing and maintaining a relationship with God.

So, please don’t misunderstand the title of this post. I think silence is essential, and many of us are not getting enough of it in our own lives.

In fact, if you don’t carve out silence in your day and find time to pray and read Gods word and listen to His voice — then I truly do not know how you will be able to navigate around the numerous dumpster fires burning right now in our culture.

Without establishing silence in your soul, you’ll either find yourself staring at those dumpster fires, falling into one of them, or maybe even lighting a few of your own.

That is how essential I think that silence is in our lives. In fact, an excellent book to read and ponder is The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Sarah.

In his book, you will find excellent insights — insights like:

Without noise, postmodern man falls into a dull, insistent uneasiness. He is accustomed to permanent background noise, which sickens, yet reassures him…

But this noise is dangerous, deceptive medicine, a diabolic lie that helps man avoid confronting himself in his interior emptiness. The awakening will necessarily be brutal.

Cardinal Sarah

Cardinal Sarah bringing some fire with those insights! So many more things I could share from that book, but you’ll just have to get it and read it for yourself!

Cardinal Sarah picks up on something many of us are running from. The truth is that silence can be painful — and so often, we fight tooth and nail to never, ever encounter a silence that demands that we look at the truth of who we are and what we are doing with our lives.

As painful as that silence may be, it is absolutely essential for real growth and change in our lives.

Even more so, it is absolutely necessary for our peace and salvation — and for that reason alone, everybody should cultivate silence in their day.

We give silence and prayer far too little credit . No doubt the prayers, fasting and silence shared in by monks and nuns throughout the world is likely the only reason we haven’t imploded as as a nation and as a culture.

Their deep dive into prayer, fasting and silence is why many of the worlds disasters weren’t worse. It is the prayer of the faithful, willing to enter into the silence, that is, no doubt, acting as a channel of grace and mercy for the rest of the world.

What would we do without the religious of the world? They are the backbone to our Church and our culture, no doubt!

Let me also say that silence is not an absence of noise. You can be surrounded by crazy kids or crazy people or be in the middle of large crowds or in the middle of lots of activity and still find silence in your soul.

In fact, as a mother, let me say it took me years to understand that, instead of trying to hush my kids all the time, I needed to learn how to retreat into my soul to find Christ in the silence of my heart.

Even more amazing, I discovered that — even in the midst of the chaos and craziness — I could find that silence in my heart. I discovered I could find Jesus and discover His peace in the daily craziness that is life with a bunch of kids.

Who knew?

Having said that, let’s do a quick dive into the problem with staying silent — when we really should be speaking up.

That kind of silence is ruining our culture. That kind of silence is not to be admired. It is despicable.

That kind of silence is often rooted in our desire for comfort and the esteem of others or it is rooted in our fear of suffering or persecutions we may experience if we do speak up.

That kind of silence is why the world is growing rotten. Don’t take my word for it, just ask Catherine of Siena.

St. Catherine lived through great corruption and confusion in her own day — so believe me, she understood what it was to live in challenging times like our own.

But here’s the thing, when you see the way that Catherine of Siena corrected the people who were objectively wrong and were doing things they shouldn’t be doing, it was always done with incredible love and simplicity.

She even corrected the Pope, but she did it with the words of a loving daughter. She didn’t shy away from speaking the truth — but it was love that gave her voice the power to change hearts.

It was that love that gave the Pope the courage and strength to change. She was never harsh, combative or abusive with those words — but her love for Jesus and His Church compelled her to speak up.

She couldn’t stay silent. Love wouldn’t let her!

We can look to her as an example for how to use our words for the greater glory of God.

She is a Saint for our times, because Catherine knew how to root herself in Christ and His Word. She knew how to retreat to the silence of prayer before she acted.

But she also knew that to remain silent in the midst of evil was a very serious sin of omission. If only we had more men and women in this time who were so convicted!

So let us meet Jesus in the silence of our hearts every day. Let’s listen to His words to us, and immerse ourselves in His word, the Bible.

Let us allow that prayer to change our attitudes towards the people we find ourselves at odds with. Let it allow Love to grow in our hearts and minds — and then let’s all that Love to compel us to speak up when necessary.

In summation: Pray first, allow love to grow in your heart and then have the courage to speak!

One word of advice is don’t forget to ask the Holy Spirit to give you the wisdom to know when to speak and how to speak — so as to avoid making a royal mess of things (#beentheredonethat) — trust me on this one!

And then just SPEAK the words God is asking you to speak. Do not be afraid. Couragio!

Now go! Go out and set the world ablaze with the fire of His Truth and His Love.