Silence is the language of God, All else is poor translation.
We need to find God, and HE cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…. We need silence to be able to touch souls. – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
When St Augustine wrote his Confessions, he looked back over the years of his wandering life and summed up the odyssey of his search for God by declaring: “Late have I love you, O beauty ever ancient yet ever new; late have I loved! You were inside me all the time but I was running around outside” (Confessions,10:27).
He had searched for happiness in many different places through his life. Let us imagine that as a young boy he sought it in games. As an adolescent he sought in being accepted. As a young man he sought it in romantic love. For a while, sensual satisfaction became his god. And then it was reason. And then it was career. Finally his god became “nonbelief”. Each of these gods proved in time to be unsatisfactory. Sensuality and romance became boring. All the earthly gods that he ran after so vigorously finally failed him. It was only then that he received the gift of faith and became a baptized follower of Christ. From the story of St Augustine’s long-life search for the vision of God, we learn the fact that in our search for God we need some quiet time to pursue the search successfully.
There are many Christians, especially young people in our world today, who are searching for God in the wrong places of life. Some seek God in money, some in alcohol, dr^gs, and sensual pleasure, and some in noisy and other fruitless ventures. More often than not God will speak to us in the same way as he spoke to Elijah in the Old Testament story. Fleeing from the anger of Jezebel and strengthened by the bread provided by the angel, the Prophet had walked forty days in the desert and had come to Horeb, the Mountain of God, where Yahweh had appeared to Elijah many times. And he said to him: go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold the Lord passes. And a great and strong wind before the Lord overthrowing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces: the Lord is not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake a fire: the Lord is not in the fire. And after the fire, a whistling of a gentle air. And when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth stood at the entrance of the cave, (1Kings 19:11-13). God’s presence is more like a gentle sweet breeze than a hurricane, and it occurs inside each one of us. If there is too much noise and distractions in our lives, we cannot hear His Word. This is exactly what St Augustine confessed. He was busy searching for God in noisy and empty places until he discovered that God was inside him in a tiny voice but he was too busy to hear the soft and tender voice of God in his heart. God cannot be found in noise and agitation. His true power and love are revealed in what is hardly perceptible, in the gentle breeze that requires stillness and quiet to detect. We need the sacred space that silence creates in order to turn our undivided attention toward, God even if it is only for a few precious moments of our day.
Finding God in Silence
Silence facilitates our meeting with God. It is true that we can find God everywhere, even in the midst of a crowd. But the Lord Jesus, who knows so thoroughly the laws of human psychology, recommends silence and solitude: “When you pray, go into your room, and closing your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” (Matt. 6:6).
True silence is a key to the immense and flaming heart of God. It is the beginning of a divine courtship that will end only in the immense, creative, fruitful, loving silence of final union with the Beloved. Yes, such silence is holy, a prayer beyond all prayers, leading to the final prayer of the constant presence of God, to the heights of contemplation, when the soul, finally at peace, lives by the will of Him whom she loves totally, utterly, and completely.
One thing is certain: we do not need to travel to some foreign land to find God. Some people believe that they travel to Israel, Rome, Lourdes, Mecca or some other places on pilgrimage to find God. I am not in any way against such faith journeys to holy places and origins of faith. No! The aim of pilgrimages should be to strengthen the faith that is already within us. I have met people who believe that if they die without going on any pilgrimage in life, they will not make it to heaven. It is not true. After all, we are pilgrims on earth. Prayerful and meditative silence is one of the best pilgrimages of faith.
Maurice Barres wrote: “There are times in our hurried lives when we wish to recollect ourselves, to get back to the fountainhead, in order to see better where we are going, where we ought to go, and to correct our course.” In other words, this means to find God again.
God is found neither in noise nor in restlessness. It is because we are too often excited by the demands of everyday life that we need to plan for times of silence, which will permit us to find Him without whom we can do nothing good, solid and eternal. Master Éckart wrote: “The soul should find silence again so that God may be discovered again in her and speak to her.” Silence is a form of prayer a prayer of listening, waiting, and receptivity. It is a prayer that anticipates and expects intimate communion; it believes in the possibility and holds in high esteem the value of being in relationship with God. In silence, we commune with the One whose first language is silence.
It is important to include to the lesson on silence the fact that our search for God can sometimes be stormy. The scripture records two prominent storms that Jesus and his disciples lived through. In the first storm (Luke 8:22-25), Jesus was in the boat with the disciples. In the second storm (Matthew 14:22-33), Jesus was on the shore and the disciples were already out of the sea. The storm came up and Jesus came to the aid of his frightened disciples by walking through the turbulent waves to the stormy place where they were. These two instances teach us that being a follower of Christ is no protection against storms and trials, and the confusion that we sometimes face in life is not a sign that God is far away from us. And finally our search for God in this life will be endless. There is no moment in our life when we can say, “I have found him finally and forever”. Our faith therefore must be a continuing journey towards the Lord. According to Donald Burt, “A faith that does not grow will perish.”
2.1 Types of Christians
In speaking of silence and of the interior life towards God, Thomas Merton would distinguish three types of practising Christians which I find very interesting for our reflection. The three types of Christians according to Merton are as follows:
- Those who obey God but do not really love Him (superficial Christians).
- Those who love God and are united with him in the activities of their life (quasi-contemplative).
- Those who love God and experience Him as He is in Himself (pure contemplatives).
2.1.1 Superficial Christians
First of all, there are the superficial Christians whose interior life, if indeed it may be called that at all, is confined to a few routine exercises of piety and a few external acts of worship and service performed as a matter of duty. Their predominant view of God is that of one who rewards and punishes. They seek not Him’ but his rewards. Their spiritual goal in life is to achieve heaven and to avoid hell. They respect God as a master; but their hearts belong not to him but to their own ambition, cares and concerns. They are not contemplative in any sense of the word; in no way do they taste the joy of union with God.
They have no thought of seeking His presence. They willfully remain at a distance from Him. They live lives of divided allegiance, allowing God to maintain His rights over the substance of their souls, but with their thoughts and desires they turn not towards Him but towards the world and external things. As far as experiencing God is concerned, they are in the same condition as men and women who refuse to acknowledge God at all.”
2.1.2 Quasi-contemplative Christians
The quasi contemplatives are very different from superficial Christians. They are those whom Merton describes as quasi-contemplative Christians. These are Christians who truly love God and are united with Him in the activities of their lives. They serve God with great purity of heart and perfect self-sacrifice in their lives. Their vocations to the active life do not allow them the solitude and silence required of a life of infused contemplation; nor do their temperaments suit them for such a life. They would probably be uncomfortable if they give up all activity for a life of solitude.
This does not mean that they cannot live interior lives or that the only alternative for them is a life of surface Christianity. Though they may not be able to empty themselves of created things; to lose themselves in God alone, as the pure contemplatives try to do, still they serve God with great purity of heart, expressed in fraternal charity, self-sacrifice, and total abandonment to God’s will in all that they do and suffer. They serve God in His children on earth. They learn to find Him in their activities, living and working in His Company, remaining in His presence, and testing the deep, peaceful joy of that presence.
The prayer life of the quasi-contemplatives may be very ordinary, not rising above the level of vocal and affective prayer. Yet, because they are conscious of God’s presence, the humble prayer may result in a deep interior life that brings them to their threshold of contemplation. Hence, though they are living active lives in the world, they may be called quasi-contemplatives. They are not unfamiliar with the graces akin to contemplation. Indeed, they may experience moments of true contemplation in their simple prayer life, in the liturgy, in the consciousness of God’s presence in their lives as they go about fulfilling their daily responsibilities.
2.1.3 Pure Contemplative Christians
Besides the surface Christians and the quasi-contemplatives, there is a third group of Christians who may be called pure contemplatives. These pure contemplatives, who, Merton believes will always be a small minority in the Christian communities, are the people of the desert, whose sole goal in life is to search for God and who find their sufficiency in Him alone. They live lives of solitude and silence in which they can empty themselves of all things outside of God, so that their emptiness can be filled with His transcendent presence. They alone are contemplatives in the strict sense. Merton writes: “In the strict sense of the word, contemplation is the supernatural love and knowledge of God, simple and obscure, infused by Him into the summit of the soul, giving it a direct and experimental contact with Him as He is in Himself.”
Following the tradition of the Fathers of the Church, Merton stresses the purity of love that is at the heart of true contemplation. It is pure, in that it empties the soul of all affection for things that are not of God.
2.2 Encountering God in Silent Retreats
A retreat, according to ‘The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality’, is a period of time set apart from one’s normal activities spent in focusing on spiritual activities. It is a time when busy men and women take themselves to a quiet place where they spend time in silence, prayer and purging their consciences. The practice of withdrawing from one’s usual routine for the purpose of nourishing the inner life has ancient roots. The example of Jesus, who spent nights in prayer and withdrew into the desert, grounds the early Christian tradition. In modern times, annual retreats have been required of the clergy and religious and are a standard part of formation programmes. The Second Vatican Council encouraged the practice of retreats for the laity as well as clergy.
There are different types of retreats. Some last only a day; others extend even beyond a month. Quite common in the contemporary period are the weekend and week-long retreats. The private retreat is a type in which an individual takes some time alone for spiritual renewal. Time is spent in quiet solitude, with opportunity for prayer, meditation, reading and refiection. In the directed retreats, the retreatant meets with an experienced spiritual director, who typically guides the individual through a series of meditations on the scriptures. The retreatant meets regularly with the director to discuss the meditations and to discern the direction in which the individual is being called. We can use the example of the call of Samuel as a case study here. God was calling him, but as a little child Samuel was unable to discern that it was God calling him. But through the spiritual guidance, direction and mentoring by Eli the priest, the little lad was able to discern clearly the call of God which he eventually answered. (I Samuel 3:1-20).
The preached retreat involves the retreat director giving conferences to a group gathered for that purpose. Often, retreatants are encouraged to maintain an atmosphere of an absolute silence and are given the opportunity to meet with the director individually. The retreat may have a specific theme relating to some aspect of ecclesial life, to the particular nature of the group, or to some The preached retreat involves the retreat director giving conferences to a group gathered for that purpose. Often, retreatants are encouraged to maintain an atmosphere of an absolute silence and are given the opportunity to meet with the director individually. The retreat may have a specific theme relating to some aspect of ecclesial life, to the particular nature of the group, contemporary problem at hand. Thus, for instance, there are Holy week retreats, retreats for married couples, and retreats focused on social justice. Part of the retreat agenda may include dialogue on the theme of the retreat by the participants. Retreat times are designed to respond to a particular spirituality, such as charismatic or contemplative.
The retreat movement in the past several decades has promoted retreats for laity as well as clergy and religious, and has led to the establishment of retreat facilities in most areas. These facilities are under the auspices of the local diocese or some religious congregations. As in the past centuries, monasteries and religious houses also continue to be places where people go for retreats.
Very often some people think that a retreat is a period of escape from people, from our daily responsibilities and commitments; they see it as something that is quite unnecessary. There is, however, nothing more necessary for a Christian than to withdraw to the desert of his soul to listen to God, to be with Jesus, to give his soul time for spiritual rest. Reverend Monsignor Cletus Tanimu Gotan considers the period of retreat as a period of spiritual check-up, stock taking, and renewal; as a period within which God offers us another opportunity of grace to get into an intimate romantic encounter with our Lord and brother Jesus Christ under the aura of the Holy Spirit of light, for the deepening of our relationships as friends and disciples-thereby becoming more disposed for greater and more partakers of His graces. He calls retreat a period of self-examination, an attempt to return to our consciences, to our sources in order to seek renewal. By keeping silent, we provide ourselves with the time we need to rest. Jesus said to His disciples: “Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest for a while.” (Mark 6:31). This was a call to be and pray with Jesus; a call to spiritual refreshment and renewal.
At retreat periods we come to rest gracefully with Jesus, casting all our burdens on him, on him who calls us to him with our burdens of sin, suffering, sorrow and confusion of life. (Matthew 11:29). Silence helps us to take the necessary steps to discover our weak points and to amend our ways of life. In a retreat, we shake off the dust and mud that we have accumulated in our lives. Mother Theresa of blessed memory once said: “Silence will teach us a lot. It will teach us to speak with Christ and to speak joyfully to our brothers and sisters.”
We all need retreats, the inward retirement to recognize our limits and the need for the gift of grace to make up for what is lacking in our efforts. It is only when a tree has been stripped of its leaves that we can see its true shape and look through its skeletal branches. It is the same with us when we go on retreat. We come unmasked before God and have ourselves stripped of flimsy and non-essentials with which we hide so that our true worth is revealed. We strip ourselves of all that is useless and expose our wounds to Jesus for healing.
