The wisdom of silence

ESPECIALLY in these toxic days when we hear a lot of noise

in talk shows and in the field of politics, where we are bombarded

with all sorts of wrangling and bashing and slamming, it’s good to

revisit the indispensable role of silence in our life so we can

recover our proper bearing in this world that seems to be spinning

fast to self-destruction.

            Silence actually speaks volumes, a lot more than all the

ideas, words, theories and opinions we can produce. If it is the

silence of God, of Christ before Pilate and Herod, then we have the

silence that is the best response to all the clacking around.

            It is the silence that indicates that one is willing to

suffer and even die for whatever, because no matter what we say or do,

the world will always be in its erratic ways, and it will only take

the death of Christ to resolve everything, a death that leads to his

resurrection.

            That is why we are told to be patient, to deny ourselves

and to carry our daily cross. These are no defeatist divine

indications. They contain a lot of wisdom that goes beyond the wisdom

of the flesh, the wisdom of the world and of the devil who is the

father of lies.

            We need to see to it that we keep a firm grip on our

emotions. When not guided and inspired by faith, our emotions get

easily provoked and can open the gates for pride to come pouring in

and dominating us. And we end up with a worse scenario.

            Silence can be an expression of great strength, the

strength of Christ himself who was willing to suffer for the sins of

men in order to deliver death to our sins and conquer them with his

resurrection.

            We should always be guided by our faith, and more

specifically, by the example of Christ, especially in his passion,

death and resurrection where we can see the victory of silence over

the shouts of the people, “Crucify him, crucify him!”

            We have to spend time meditating on this Paschal Mystery

of Christ because that is the key that opens the gate of true wisdom.

There we will see that evil is properly responded with goodness, anger

and hatred with calmness, meekness and humility. There we will see

that shouts, screams and all sorts of noise are properly responded

with silence.

            If we respond evil with evil, anger with anger, then we

would just be acting out the primitive Law of Talion of eye for an

eye, tooth for a tooth, that would only lead us to kill one another,

or at least leave us all blind and toothless.

            Rather, we have to follow what St. John of the Cross once

said: “Where there is no love, put love. And you will find love.” We

should just focus on proclaiming the truth and all good values without

engaging in bitter discussions that can attract a lot of unwelcome

guests.

            The meditation of the Paschal Mystery lays to rest the

deceptive reasoning of our flesh, the world and the devil. It gives us

the global picture of things, broadening our vision and deepening our

understanding of things. It shows us the finer points of charity and

bridges the gap between our sinful world and our true definitive home

in heaven with God our Father.

            We should never underestimate the importance and necessity

of silence in our life!