Homily for Ordinary Time 23 - September 5, 2021

 

Homily for Ordinary Time 23

September 5, 2021

The Value of Silence

 

            There is a fellow named Bernie Kraus who records nature sounds for films and television. When he began recording nature sounds in 1968, in order to get one hour of uninterrupted nature sounds (no cars, planes, or other outside human noise), he would have to record for about 15 hours. He said that today, to get the same one hour of uninterrupted nature sound, it takes him over 2,000 hours of recording time – he is constantly being interrupted by the noise of the world around him.

            And we do live in a noisy world. I walk into a store, and am bombarded with piped-in music. I drive up Route 8, trying to enjoy the mountains surrounding the Naugatuck River, and am constantly distracted with mile after mile of billboards. Even on trains and subways we have our ear pods in, our eyes glued to our phones, constantly distracted from the real world around us.

            In today’s Gospel, the man couldn’t hear the voice of Jesus because he was physically deaf. In today’s world, we cannot hear the voice of Jesus because it is drowned out by too much noise. We wonder where God is – but He speaks in silence!

            Silence is such a beautiful and underappreciated gift in the world. A person who can be silent is a person at peace with themselves. When New York Post columnist Rod Dreher was going through a time of intense personal turmoil, he went to see his parish priest, and the priest prescribed one hour of silence per day. At first, he thought, “That’s crazy! I’m a busy journalist; I have to keep my ear to the ground and be constantly connected. I can never do that.” But as his personal struggle turned into depression and anxiety, he gave it a shot – and he found that God was present in the silence. The peace he had long lacked returned.

            CS Lewis once said: “In Heaven, there is music, and there is silence. In Hell there is only noise.” I would add that in America there is mostly noise. But if we want our ears to be opened to hear the still, small voice of God, we need to choose silence.

            And that can be frightening and difficult! I was teaching a Confirmation class one day when I challenged the kids to be silent for ten minutes per day. One girl looked at me as if I asked her to cut off a limb. I said, “Why don’t you think you could do that?” She responded, “I’m afraid of what I might hear.”

            Isn’t that often the case – we are afraid to be silent because we don’t want to face ourselves and we don’t want to face God? So we wake up to the radio, we make sure we’re scrolling through Instagram in every spare moment, we listen to podcasts in the car, we watch TV when we work out, and basically make sure that our brain is distracted at every waking moment.

            But what if we unplug? Disconnect? Encounter God – and ourselves – in silence? It would change our lives – and maybe for the first time, we would be able to hear the voice of God.

            One might say, “Well, but how does God speak in silence?” It is not in an audible voice. Usually God speaks in silence in one of three ways. First, through thoughts – perhaps a thought will come to our minds that wasn’t part of our usual “train of thought”. We wonder where the thought came from – because it came from the Lord. Second, through memories. Frequently God will call someone to mind because I need to pray for them, or forgive them, or reach out to them. Finally, through our emotions. In silence I will sometimes feel peace, or joy, or sorrow for my sins. If I feel fear or sadness, I lift them up to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to enlighten me as to why these emotions are arising. It can be unnerving to be in silence before the Lord, because we are very vulnerable – and that is how we should be: totally open to Him, surrendered to Him.

            So, do you want peace in your life? Do you want to hear the voice of the Lord? I challenge all of you to spend fifteen minutes a day in silence. Go for a walk in nature, turn off the radio in the car, or maybe just read the Bible for a bit and then sit with it in your living room. Silence gives God the space to speak – and allows us to hear His voice.