Beyond the walls of the church, one might think that Christmas has already arrived. I don’t think I had chance to digest my Thanksgiving dinner before I heard Christmas carols on the radio. And yet, we come to Mass only to encounter the Church’s Advent message urging us to be vigilant lest we be found asleep at the Lord’s coming!
Advent is a season that is, for all its spiritual beauty, very much overlooked. Advent prepares us not only to celebrate the Lord’s first coming in Bethlehem but also his second coming as the judge of our lives. It is not a message we cheerfully embrace. But the Church knows that we need to ponder this reality despite our resistance and she places it before us every year. It is a message of great urgency. We need to be shaken from our spiritual drowsiness and keep before our eyes the true meaning of time and eternity.
Prayer is the key to vigilance. But an essential ingredient is something that escapes us so often: SILENCE. My latest “read” is a book by Cardinal Robert Sarah, entitled, “The Power of Silence.” I highly recommend it.
The Cardinal reminds us that “no prophet ever encountered God without withdrawing into solitude and silence. He points to Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist and indeed Our Lord himself who went into the silence of the desert to pray. But he is quick to point out that he is not just referring to geography but to an interior state…the true desert within us, in our soul. Advent bids us go there.
The Cardinal says, “Our world no longer hears God because it is constantly speaking at a devastating speed and volume. From morning to evening, silence no longer has any place at all. Contemplative silence is a fragile little flame in the middle of a raging ocean. Our mobile phone rings, fingers and mind are always busy sending messages.” We are at a point when people text even during the Mass and even carry on conversations through Mass. (Not here of course, I am speaking generally!) Without silence, God disappears in the noise!
Our vigilant care of our spiritual life has much to do with our capacity for silence. Silence allows God to enter into our lives. How can we do this?
Might I offer this as an Advent challenge—resolution?
Create times of silence through the day. As celebrant of the Mass, I want to create more periods of silence and adoration. Let’s take a serious look at what happens after Communion. Leaving Mass with the host still on our tongue…And after Mass? How noisy we can be! How easy it is to forget that this is the dwelling of God and privileged place for prayer at every moment. We can be thoughtless of those who wish to remain in church to pray.
Let us extend to them the courtesy of our silence. Everyone should be able to come here for prayer and peace of mind. Think of the great apparition of Knock in Ireland…Mary, St. Joseph and St. John appear with an altar and a Lamb…What did Mary say? What did St. Joseph and St. John say? Nothing! Theirs was a message of sacred silence in the presence of the altar.
Since silence is so closely bound to prayer and the liturgy, it is also inseparable from God's grace. Our challenge is to ask God for the grace to make time away from noise, and allow silence to usher us into the mystery of God’s presence.
