Silence

for a simple and quiet night with your koinonia group, use this reflection, scripture passages, and closing prayer, along with periods of silence, to consider how silence plays a role in our lives…

reflection…
Silence is sound from the future, an intimation of eternity. Eternity has begun for me. I carry eternity within me; it is slowly, silently growing out of me. More is becoming eternalized, forevered. “Whoever really possesses the Word of Jesus can sense also his silence” (Ignatius of Antioch). Silence is our way of going into the desert, into eternity.

We each carry our own depth of silence, the human kind of silence not found anywhere else… Silence is a presence, a receptivity, a readiness, a waiting, a listening. There are different kinds of silence, expressing contentment, fullness, or emptiness. Silence has many different faces, meanings. There is the silence of wisdom and the silence of ignorance, the silence of humility and the silence of poverty, the silence of anger and the silence of love. There is the silence of Jesus among us for thirty years, the silence of Nazareth, of Bethlehem, of the desert, of the nights on the mountain.

There is the silence of nature, the turning of the earth, its movement around the sun, the silence of the sun, the moon, the stars, the ground. Noise is but interrupted silence. Hear the silence of history, of death, the silence of clouds, of snow, the silence of flowers, of all growing things, of trees, mountains, dawn, sunset. Hear the silence of candles burning, the silence of cemeteries, the silence of God, nature, people; of love, grace, sacrifice. Silence is the special sacrament of God’s presence.
Edward Farrell


scripture…
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice. Job 4:15-16

…without a word, without a sound, without a voice being heard, yet their message fills the world, their news reaches its rim. Psalm 19:4-5

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good…to sit along in silence when the Lord has imposed it. Lamentations 3:26-28

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! Habakkuk 2:20

But when he was accused by the chief priests and elder, he did not answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. Matthew 27:12-14


prayer…
We bless you, Lord, for this time of silence and for the space and peace it brings. Help us to treasure the precious gift of silence and to resist the temptation of putting it off till later. As we discover you in the times of silence, may our lives be blessed with new depth and tranquility. Amen.