“When we come into church from the outside our ears are filled with the racket of the city, the words of those who have accompanied us, the laboring and quarreling of our own thoughts, the disquiet of our hearts’ wishes and worries, hurts and joys. How are we possibly to hear what God is saying? That we listen at all is something; not everyone does. It is even better when we pay attention and make a real effort to understand what is being said. But all this is not yet the attentive stillness in which God’s word can take root. This must be established before the service begins, if possible in the silence on the way to church, still better in a brief period of composure the evening before.”— Msgr. Romano Guardini, p. 17
“How many times this happens in the Church: we are busy, we run around, we think that everything depends on us and, in the end, we risk neglecting Jesus and we always make ourselves the centre… For it is not enough to “unplug” ourselves, we need to truly rest. And how do we do this? To do so, we must return to the heart of things: to stop, to remain in silence, to pray so as not to go from the frenzy of work to the frenzy of times of relaxation.” Pope Francis
FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021 “All Godly men and women report not only the joy of prayer, but also the tediousness and fatigue it can bring: at times it is a difficult struggle to keep to the time and ways of praying… Silence, prayer and concentration are difficult exercises, and sometimes human nature rebels. We would rather be anywhere else in the world, but not there, in that church pew, praying. Those who want to pray must remember that faith is not easy, and sometimes it moves forward in almost total darkness, without points of reference. There are moments in the life of faith that are dark… But I continue to pray.” Pope Francis
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Revelation 8:1
With the opening of the seventh seal we might have expected the story to come to a speedy conclusion. But we do not meet a cosmic display of God’s almighty forces. Instead, we are surrounded by heaven’s silence for an extended time—so that we can receive an important message.
In our fast-paced lives there are very few places where we experience silence. Not only that, but we generally don’t like to have times of prolonged silence. We’ll do anything—listen to a radio, watch TV, send text messages, read or listen to a book, play games or sports, work, do hobbies, and more—to avoid staying in silence for very long.
Silence gives us space, however, for God to speak to our hearts. It is God who speaks in Psalm 46, saying, “Be still, and know that I am God.” With the opening of the seventh seal, the story line in Revelation moves toward darkness and devastation, destruction from powers that are allowed to test and challenge people on the earth. As those who live by faith in Jesus, however, we need heaven’s silence—the stillness in which God can make himself known to us—to face any challenges to our faith.
You may be facing challenges today. The prolonged silence in today’s Bible reading promises to be God’s way of assuring us that we are not alone. God is with us as “our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”
Slow me down, Lord. I need to stop the noise and distractions so that you can reassure me of your presence, strength, and care. Protect me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“The Blessed Virgin endured a long and cruel martyrdom in her heart for our sakes, and for love of us. Frequently, and with feelings of tender love, contemplate her standing at the foot of the Cross, and join her in bewailing and weeping over sin, which, by causing the death of Jesus, rent in twain the heart of Mary. Pledge your heart to this Mother of sorrows, by some habitual act of devotion and mortification, in remembrance and in honor of her bitter sufferings. Also, endure something for love of her, imitating her patience, resignation, and silence.”— Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, p. 259
The Story of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order
Can you imagine seven prominent men of Boston or Denver banding together, leaving their homes and professions, and going into solitude for a life directly given to God? That is what happened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13th century. The city was torn with political strife as well as the heresy of the Cathari, who believed that physical reality was inherently evil. Morals were low and religion seemed meaningless.
In 1240, seven noblemen of Florence mutually decided to withdraw from the city to a solitary place for prayer and direct service of God. Their initial difficulty was providing for their dependents, since two were still married and two were widowers.
Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they soon found themselves disturbed by constant visitors from Florence. They next withdrew to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario.
In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the Rule of St. Augustine and adopting the name of the Servants of Mary. The new Order took a form more like that of the mendicant friars than that of the older monastic Orders.
Members of the community came to the United States from Austria in 1852 and settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. The two American provinces developed from the foundation made by Father Austin Morini in 1870 in Wisconsin.
Community members combined monastic life and active ministry. In the monastery, they led a life of prayer, work and silence while in the active apostolate they engaged in parochial work, teaching, preaching, and other ministerial activities.
Reflection
The time in which the seven Servite founders lived is very easily comparable to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is “the best of times and the worst of times,” as Dickens once wrote. Some, perhaps many, feel called to a countercultural life, even in religion. All of us are faced in a new and urgent way with the challenge to make our lives decisively centered in Christ.
