The gift of silence

These monkey-faced flowers intrigue me. So does the whole concept of silence. The pastor of St. Augustine Church, where I go to noon Mass during the week, has just finished a thirty-day retreat and wrote an entire page on silence as a necessary element for human health and growth- physically, psychologically, and spiritually. He talks about what a tremendous gift it is to really experience both interior and exterior silence. He spoke of how it created a tremendous sense of peace, renewal, clarity of mind, and awareness of the presence of God. He spoke of the need for silence to be aware of God's love in the retreat and that silence is also essential for life. He ended his reflection with this quote from Blessed Theresa of Calcutta: "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature- trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls."

Let us thank for the silence we are able to find in our lives; anyone who does Centering Prayer knows what a gift interior silence is for sinking deep into the Heart of Christ.