“There is a language of the stars that we can neither know nor comprehend but that God understands perfectly.” (Cardinal Robert Sarah, “The Power of Silence”, p.88).
We live in a noisy world. Have you ever imagined how the world sounded even just one or two hundred years ago?
Remember that we have only had smart phones being used prolifically over the last couple of decades or so. Remember also that televisions were first introduced into the home during the lifetime of my parents. Consider as well that a wireless or radio did not exist two hundred years ago.
Cars were only really starting to be widely used in the last hundred years. Commercial aeroplanes have existed for an even shorter time.
And so, what does that mean? Well, it means that there is a lot of noise in our world. Even now, as I write this quietly in my home, the clacking of the keys is almost deafening. If I wished to, while I write, I could listen to a meditation recorded and distributed on the internet, or a song on the radio, or I could watch a film on the television. I could pick up my phone and talk to someone on it, and listen to their responses as I write.
All of these things are noisy and they are all new.
When God created the world there was silence and there was quiet. Cardinal Robert Sarah wrote in “The Power of Silence” at page 88, “Creation itself is a silent word of God. The wordless beauty of nature displays before our eyes the manifold riches of a Father who is ceaselessly present among men. This divine speech is not audible to ears that are too human; nevertheless, it is the most profound speech of all. The sun, the moon, and the stars are absolutely silent to our ears, but they are a word and a message essential to our earthly existence. There is a language of the stars that we can neither know nor comprehend but that God understands perfectly.”
And I have been thinking about this, because many of the Saints have written and spoken about the importance of remaining silent in our souls as it is in the silence that God speaks to us…
And in this noisy modern world, there is virtually no silence at all. There is virtually no time to sit quietly and reflect on God Himself and what He might wish for me. The days are spent in a flurry of activity, and the evenings in the noisy bustle of family life. There is little time to stop and sit in silence and to think on what God may wish for me.
And I have been thinking about that today. For it seems that God has many plans for me and those plans are waiting for me. And it seems that all He is asking of me is that I sit quietly – in silence – and listen to Him. And that means turning many things off, and turning my spiritual soul on. And today – I pray for the Grace to be able to do just that!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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