Attaining Wisdom Through Silence

I suspect that Jesus was a man who was comfortable with and even craved silence. As Sr. Genevieve Glen has noted, “The evangelists … show him over and over again to be a person who paid intense attention to the world around him.” Such intense attention is facilitated by silence.

We at the Mount maintained silence during our recent week-long retreat, except during our communal prayer times and mass. The silence cleared away the clutter of conversation and made us more attentive to the words we did hear from our retreat director and in our songs, psalms, and Scripture readings. Although I was somewhat concerned that our silence would seem inhospitable to our guests and employees, I believe they sense that we practice this discipline not to shut them out but to enable us, and them, to be more open and attentive to the world.

In today’s Gospel reading, we heard “Give, and gifts will be given to you” (Lk 6: 38). What we seek is facilitated by its opposite. To obtain fullness, we practice emptiness. To obtain life, we practice dying to self. To obtain wisdom, we practice intense attention and silence—out of which comes the Word to guide us, sustain us, and help us recognize and respond to God’s presence in the Body of Christ.