Silencio

    

Holy Rosary Church, Steubenville.
Obviously, it was a silent retreat, so I didn't take any pictures. Here's a quiet picture from last year.

    Every day at 11:40 AM, EST (or 12:40 depending on regional daylight savings time differences), the Blessed Virgin Mary appears to visionaries in Medjugore, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    Allegedly, that is. Because these supposed apparitions are still ongoing, the Vatican cannot yet make a definitive statement on their authenticity, but has allowed pious devotion and pilgrimages to be made to Our Lady of Medjugorje, Queen of Peace.

    Why do I bring this up? For one thing, Medjugorje is integral to my vocation story (I think it to be true, though if the apparitions are shown to be false that will not shake my faith in that Our Lady has done good things with Medjugorje anyway), and not mentioning it at least briefly in my writings would be to do Our Lady a great dishonor. The other reason I bring this up, however, is that every day, at the time of the apparitions, the presider of one of the many Rosaries that is prayed there will call for silence- silencio, in Croatian. I know, because I went there, and have spent the last few years of my life watching it live on https://marytv.tv/ almost every day.

    For the past few days, the Pontifical College Josephinum has had its Labor Day weekend 40 hour Eucharistic Silent retreat. We just finished the silence about 3 hours ago at the time of this writing.

    The silence was beautiful. I don't always like the phrase, "the silence was deafening," because I've learned through my journey of the spiritual life that when there is silence, the voice of God becomes much clearer. Throughout our retreat of silence, I was given the opportunity to adore the Lord Eucharistically whenever I wished (and when you have no technology or social times, it is far easier to choose to adore), so I spent a good handful of holy hours that went by far quicker than I expected them to. At 3:00 AM last night (or perhaps morning?) I experienced what felt like the shortest holy hour of my life (at least that I didn't fall asleep to). In all of those times, Our Lady led me to enter into the family of the Trinity through the prayer of the saints, and I was strengthened, taught, nourished, and consoled in the silence of the presence of God. He spoke, I heard nothing, but I listened, and received much.

    However, Eucharistic Adoration was not the full extent of my Holy Hours. I spent all my hours in silent adoration while doing laundry, eating meals, waiting to fall asleep in bed... every moment became a time to listen to the Holy Spirit as He spoke life into me. By the end of the retreat, I was entirely grateful for that gift of silence, not simply because there was no clamor, but because I could hang on to every word that came forth from the mouth of God. These words have always been spoken, but I have not always listened.

    To have repeated times of silence is very important to life with Christ, and I daresay is essential. In our own day and age, where Satan has used noise to destroy souls who do not know what the voice of the shepherd sounds like, we must prioritize silence with the word of God, Jesus Christ Himself.

    I'm not saying this is easy. We are students, workers, mothers, fathers, leaders... we often feel that to have silence is a forgone treasure, unattainable till we retire or die. However, I encourage you to examine the times that you fill silence with unnecessary noise. Don't turn on the TV after dinner- sit and listen to God, read His word. When you go out with friends or are sitting for a meal with your family, ask them about prayer- true prayer, listening AND speaking to God. When your children are finally in bed, or your head hits the pillow after a long day of studying or working... talk to Jesus.

    Ask your mother, Mary, to show you how you can spend time in the pregnant silence of God. She will help you- if you humbly follow, She will lead you.