Written by: 3/18/2018 12:00 AM
Over the door to my office at St. John Neumann is a sign that says, ‘Let us be silent, that we may hear the whisper of God.’ I don’t often see it, as it is literally above the door and, honestly, who looks up that high, anyway? But as I struggled to write this column today, I glanced up there and that sign hit me as a particularly apt reminder for the two weeks that are coming up. And how much we can struggle with silence.
During this past Advent, I unplugged my TV. And it was a very fruitful and beneficial advent for me, spiritually. I found I was less agitated, more focused and the prayer came a little easier to me, as well.
Then Lent came, and I thought: hmmm, I should do the same thing! But, well, the Olympics were on, and that’s always interesting. (Curling Gold, Ladies and Gentlemen!) After the Olympics, well, there’s a basketball tournament, Reds spring training, MasterChef, etc. Maybe I just won’t watch as much as I normally do…
And so my Lent has been chaotic, and, quite simply, agitated.
Naturally, my eye turns to that sign hanging above my office door: ‘Let us be silent, that we may here the whisper of God.’ And that little whisper of God’s voice tells me again: ‘You haven’t been silent at all this Lent.’
While my heart is a little bit crushed by this realization, I also am a little resolved to make these last few weeks of Lent something more than the first few weeks of Lent. There is still a chance to enter into the silence that is available during Lent. There is an invitation that Jesus will make in a few days’ time to His Apostles: ‘Could you not watch even one hour with me?’ as he is beginning His Passion.
But I know that the silence is scary. When we enter into the silence, the voices that we have tried to stomp down in our heads start to come to the fore; and well, I don’t want to listen to them, that’s why I stomp them down, God! But He wants to talk to me about them, so I sit in quiet and relax and learn; even to the point of driving without the radio on.
We are so filled with constant stimulus and noise,that God’s voice gets drowned out. Over the coming feast days, take a chance to sit in quiet. To sit ‘unplugged’ from the word in order to let the voice of God speak to your heart, mind and soul.
In doing so, and then coming to the Lord to walk with Him over these final days, will be to hear His voice calling you like you never have before. Not because He is speaking louder, but solely because your inner ear is finally tuned to hear His voice; as He gently invites you to spend that hour with Him in the Garden.
God Bless, Fr. Kyle Schnippel
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