This Lent try silence to find communion with God

In perhaps the most direct advice we receive from Jesus regarding our Lenten obligations, He tells us that when we pray we should “close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” Likewise, Jesus tells us to perform charity with discretion and give alms surreptitiously. We must fast in a way that only God will know our sacrifice. He does not suggest that these acts are concealed, but rather He wants us to be humble, that our love for our fellow men and for God be an inward act. (Mt 6:1-18)

Our Savior, of course, did not give advice He did not follow Himself. The New Testament is replete with instances where Jesus went off by Himself to find solitude. Before selecting His 12 Apostles, Jesus “departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.” (Lk 6:12) Upon learning of the death of John the Baptist, He “withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” (Mt 14:13)

After healing the leper, He withdrew “to deserted places to pray” (Lk 5:16) and when He healed Simon’s mother-in-law and others they brought to him that evening, He “went off to a deserted place, where He prayed.” It was during these quiet moments, during times of silence that he conversed with His Father. (Mk 1:32-35)

Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Verbum Domini, “in the dynamic of Christian revelation, silence appears as an important expression of the word of God.”

The Holy Father reminds us, however, that, “Ours is not an age which fosters recollection; at times one has the impression that people are afraid of detaching themselves, even for a moment, from the mass media. For this reason, it is necessary nowadays that the People of God be educated in the value of silence.”

The pope is referring to the modern world’s dependence on the television, radio, Internet, Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, i-Pods and a seemingly endless array of communications media.

Pope Benedict pointed out in his recent Communications Message that different religious traditions “consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things.”

The pope says, “The mysteries of Christ all involve silence. Only in silence can the word of God ?nd a home in us, as it did in Mary, woman of the word and, inseparably, woman of silence.”

Those of us in religious life, especially those in contemplative orders, are about being countercultural—not withdrawn, but countercultural. What is more countercultural in our society today than learning the value of silence, of learning to be quiet?

I ask all of us, especially the young people, during Lent to learn from almighty God to simply be silent. Because in silence—and this is what our religious  brothers and sisters in contemplative life teach us—you touch your inner being. In silence, you remove all of the distractions and all of the noises.

In silence, you discover your dignity. In silence, you touch God’s life in you. In silence, you find love. In silence, you find true faith. Moreover, in silence, you find hope.

Lent is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to take time in silence; to learn to be quiet; to pray, as Jesus did, to our Father in solitude.