Into the Silence 

   “There is one great question: how can man really be in the image of God?  He must enter into silence. (Robert Cardinal Sarah and Nicolas Diat, “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise”) 

   Silence is more that just the absence of noise.  It is an attitude, a way of life, a communion with God.  The desert fathers knew this and isolated themselves from the world at large.  In cloistered monasteries and convents around the world today those who have chosen the consecrated religious life still know this and practice it.

   Noise is one of Satan’s great tools in his efforts to draw us away from our Lord.  In the daily noise and chaos that surrounds us we find it hard to empty our minds and our hearts.  Yet if we are to come closer to God it is vital that we have time with Him alone.  In the silence and solitude of our heart and soul He comes to us; if we cannot quiet ourselves how is He to come?

   Jesus recognized the necessity of solitude and silence.  He often went off by Himself to pray and to be alone with the Father.  He did so before He named the twelve apostles. (Luke 6: 12 – 13).  On the night He was betrayed He left the twelve and went alone to pray to the Father.  (Matt 26: 36 – 44)

   I need the times of quiet and solitude, of simple openness to His presence and the joy of knowing He is within my heart and soul.  Though I do not desire to be in a cloistered, totally isolated environment, I find that without times of silence and solitude with God life is incomplete. 

In the silence You come.

You fill my heart and soul.

I open myself totally to Your presence.

Let me belong to You alone. 

Amen