When I first saw the words ‘SACRED SILENCE’ flashed on the screen during the Eucharistic Celebration, I was immediately reminded how reverent one should be during the service. It was also kind of sad to have to be reminded. Shouldn’t we be mindful that we are in the Lord’s presence? Do we feel his holiness around us? Are we God-fearing people?
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s classic song –
The Sound of Silence, also comes to mind. Art Garfunkel once summed up the song’s meaning as “the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other.” (Wikipedia: The Sound of Silence)
Are we able to connect emotionally with our Father?
In Pope John Paul II’s apostolic letter of 1995, Orientale Lumen, he reminded us:
“All, believers and non-believers alike, need to learn a silence that allows the Other to speak when and how he wishes … In the humble acceptance of the creature’s limits before the infinite transcendence of a God who never ceases to reveal himself as God … We must confess that we all have need of this silence, filled with the presence of Him who is adored.”
Pope Francis also reminds us that Catholics should spend their time in silence before Mass, preparing to “meet Jesus” instead of engaging in “chitchat”.
“Silence is so important,” he said. “Remember … we are not going to a show. Silence prepares us and accompanies us.”
At various points in the Eucharistic Celebration, we may not have noticed that there are pauses or moments of silence.
The silence that precedes the opening prayer at Mass is an opportunity for Christians to commend to God the fate of the church and the world, Pope Francis said.
“Without this silence, we risk neglecting the reflection of the soul,” he said.
And after our hymn of praise to God, the congregation is invited to pray and observe a moment of silence so that the faithful may be conscious of the fact that they are in God’s presence and formulate their petitions, the Pope explained.
This silence, he said, is not just an absence of words but a time to listen “to other voices: that of our heart and, above all, the voice of the Holy Spirit.”
“All, believers and non-believers alike, need to learn a silence that allows the Other to speak when and how he wishes … In the humble acceptance of the creature’s limits before the infinite transcendence of a God who never ceases to reveal himself as God … We must confess that we all have need of this silence, filled with the presence of Him who is adored.”
– Pope John Paul II
Compiled by Karen Roberts-Fong
Source: The silence that makes us tremble; Pope Francis: we need to observe silence in the mass; Pope Francis urges silence before Mass, not ‘chitchat’ https://catholicherald.co.uk