Embrace Silence

19 Feb

“Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.”  ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

It is rare to find a friend who enjoys silence.  When you do find one, you know that you have discovered a treasure.  Yes, speaking to one another, singing with one another, laughing with one another are all dynamics of conversation among friends.  However, silence?  That is a rare conversation piece.

Silence tends to disarm others.  If a person is silent too long, other people begin to wonder what is going on.  What is he thinking?  What is he going to say?  Did he disagree with me?  Is something wrong?  Those questions, and many more, pass through the minds of someone face to face with silence.  For those of us who are comfortable with one another’s silence, it can be a rich experience.

Silence can convey sympathy.  It can convey empathy.  It can convey sorrow or joy or concern or elation.  Silence does not need words.  As a matter of fact, words can often shatter what silence is attempting to convey.

God meets us in the silence of our hearts.  When we fill our lives with noise, we are distracted.  When we allow ourselves to be silent — truly silent — we are able to be attentive to the Lord.  There are two types of silence.  One type of silence is a distracted kind of silence.  In our silence we might be filling our minds with many questions as mentioned earlier.

When we are “truly silent”, something else is taking place.  We have quieted out minds and hearts and stilled our souls so that we can be open to receive communication from another.  We have dismissed the distractions that might have come into our minds and emptied ourselves of all expectations.  In that condition, we are ready to receive all sorts of communications verbal and non-verbal.

God speaks to us at all times.  For our part, however, we are best able to hear him when we are truly silent.

FAITH ACTION:  Create some time in your day to sit in silence in order to allow the Lord to speak to your heart without interruption.

Remember, the Fridays of Lent are Days of Abstinence