Invitation to Silence (4th Sunday Ordinary B)

During Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines in January of 2015, one of the most moving encounters of the Filipino people with him was perhaps when he invited all to a moment of silence—silence in the midst of the unspeakable remembrance of the agony, pain, loss, and other forms of suffering that had befallen the people of Tacloban.

"Some of you lost part of your families, all I can do is keep silence, and I walk with you all with my silent heart...I have no more words to tell you." These words of Pope Francis revealed how silence has allowed him to show his own limits and humility. But this honest expression of vulnerability has, all the more, humanized the papacy and made him a captivating figure to many people.

For me, such an invitation to silence, coming from a humble Pope, is a reminder that in silence, more than in its doctrinal eloquence, Christianity is in its finest. In silence, Christianity’s compassion for the poor and the suffering becomes pure, honest, and unmistakable.

Few people have discovered the eloquence of silence.  Most people live and have mastered the art of thriving in the noise of anxieties, charting their way to success through the multi-layered pile of tasks, important concerns, and, no doubt, noble responsibilities.  For these people addicted to productive activities, silence is strange.  Silence is unbearably a waste of their precious time.

In today’s gospel (Mk. 1: 21-28), Jesus commanded the man with an unclean spirit to be quiet: “Quiet!  Come out of him!”  Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit this way because he was ranting and raving as Jesus was teaching with authority in the synagogue.  The man with an unclean spirit was resisting Jesus’ authority as he cried out “What have you to do with us...? Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 

Such is the noise of resistance to God’s authority.  Like the evil spirit, all too often we find ourselves declaring our autonomy from external authorities like God’s. “What have you to do with us?” We are afraid that God might ask us to change and “destroy” our own grand plans in life. We acknowledge his Holiness but we do not trust God enough to allow him to be the God of our lives!  Hence, we keep on ranting, filling our hearts with the noise of resistance.  No wonder, many times we are afraid to be silent.

Today we listen to the Lord as He commands us with authority, “Be quiet!”  Only in that deep state of silence can God speak into our hearts.  I propose the following invitations to silence:

The silence of emptiness.  Cluttered with all our worldly concerns and anxieties, our minds and hearts have no room to offer for God.  We need to de-clutter.  We need to give space for God’s Word to penetrate our hearts.  Silence is an invitation to emptiness.  To be truly silent is to be empty in such a way that our only yearning is to be graciously filled up with the sense of being loved by God. 

The silence of powerlessness.  Satan’s bad habit is to perpetually resist the authority of God.  Satan wants to wield power and to be his own God.  We do feel this evil tendency in us very strongly.  We want to be “the captain of our souls.”  We want to be the ones taking hold of the helm of our fate.  We have to admit, we can be control freaks.  We seem to be disoriented and lost when we are not in control. That is why we resist God’s directions.  We cannot let go. Silence is the courage to be powerless in the face of God. Silence is letting go of our control and being docile to God’s command, “Be quiet! Come out!”  Hence, silence is an invitation for us to give up our futile resistance and let God be the God of our lives.

The silence of peace and harmony.  This is the experience of tranquillity after we have been purged of the “unclean spirit.”  This is the peace that sets in after the convulsions of our defiance.  We seek harmony in life.  We can only attain it by making silence an integral part of our busy lives. We can have peace and harmony when we have replaced our bad habit of harbouring anxieties and resistance in our hearts with the powerful habit of incorporating into our practical lives the eloquent power of silence.  The silence of harmony is like the silences in between the notes of a great musical composition. All those notes fail to form a harmonious melody when they are not woven together by the silences that connect them all. So are the endless concerns in our lives.

The euphoria of the Pope’s visit soon died down. And rightly so, in order that we, in the same silence he called for, may do well to allow his message of mercy and compassion to sink in and become truly an honest impulse in our response to the suffering of the poor.