silence - 5th week friday 2018

One cannot speak when one cannot hear.  That is why deaf mutes are deaf first before they become mute.  They cannot speak because they cannot hear.

Today we are reminded of the primacy of hearing over speaking. 

That is why today we have a lot of people speaking, a lot of people talking without depth, without content, without real substance.  Just words, just noise, just clutter.

That is why silence is part of the life of a priest and a seminarian.  In silence we pray, we listen, we reflect, we meditate before we speak.  Philosophy teaches us to go deeper, to find meaning in our life and in what we do.  It teaches us to have depth in our conversations.  And this can only be done when reflection is part of our life.

Today we are reminded to value our times of silence, silentium magnum and our meditations every morning.  It is wrong to fill everything up with activities.  It is important that there are empty spaces in our lives so that God can fill this up with his wisdom and with his words.