Listen in Silence! What do you hear?

If you can become loney, down deep within your heart, the sounds of silence will envelop your senses of knowing without study, searching, or expounding from the mountain top.

Look into the lives of so many saints, prophets, and even our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of them has found the meaning of a silent prayer that goes beyond noise, song, dance, and even the crescendo of words that blast along the hills of mighty voices.

Elijah stood at the mountain waiting for God! Not until a tiny whisper entered his presence did he hear God. (1 Kings 19: 12 - 13). Thomas Merton said, “you do not go into the desert to find solace, you return to people and find within the meaning of God.” (From my article the Wilderness Experience). Jesus went frequently into the mountain to be alone with God and found the strength of silence that spread throughout the world. (Lk 6: 12).

We need to seek that entity that is without a noise that causes our hearing to vibrate along the pattern of speaking and listening to someone entering our space of time. Even great composers or writers of prose must be alone in their thoughts that speak through their hearts without the interference of voices that ring out confusion and ill-gotten suggestions coming from the mind of the world.

Reading the comments of one or more composers or writers supports the theme that may awaken them in the early hours of the night with a thought, a theme, or a tune that will become the impetus for their next book, symphony, and just a touch of greatness from God. Here lies the words of silence that God is calling any one of us to absorb and create a pattern the crowds are waiting to read, sing, or just create in a world filled with doubt and confusion.

There are periods of solace that can only come from one retreating from the TV, crowds cheering others' success, or joining the questions of family or co-workers seeking to have us join in. The “sounds of silence” is a reminder for us to listen to God who only speaks in a non-audible voice that is meant for just you or me. This is why contemplatives have one blessing beyond others that pleases God as he speaks in the silence of our hearts. At any time we celebrated Holy Hours, when the pastor was the celebrant he would sit for a period of time in reflection that seemed to go on and on. He was always contemplating. He now is the Bishop of the diocese of Youngstown, Ohio. I can believe that when he is confirming children or ordaining men to the priesthood, deep down he is hearing God’s word in a silence that surpasses all spoken words.

Ralph B. Hathaway