Vojtěch Zieba
Lecture I.
Mother Teresa says: “The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service and unity.”
1. Silence, stillness – what is it? When I utter these words in connection with prayer, when I say them in a temple, I feel a kind of solemn magic in these words, a magic that brings peace to the heart, widely opening it to what is great and holy, and at the same time fills it with a strange power. Silence…
It is not just the absence of speaking, nor is it avoiding noise. It is a whole atmosphere that permeates us to the core of our being. Such silence reigns in the mountains – even when the wind is rustling; such silence can take hold of us when we look at the immensity of the ocean – even if the waves are raging; such silence can penetrate us when we listen to the perfect beauty of J. S. Bach's fugues, which someone plays on old organs in a dark Gothic cathedral – and yet there are so many tones around! This silence at the core of our being can be born from wonder, it can be silence of adoration, contemplation – when we stand before something that infinitely surpasses us, and so we no longer concern ourselves with ourselves, only with something that is beyond us.
However, there can also be a silence of awe, fear, horror that is born in the face of something so great that even a scream is not enough to express it. There can also be a silence of suffering, pain, despair that a scream cannot articulate. Thus, there is a narrow boundary between the cry of wonder, enthusiasm, horror, or suffering and silence. But that silence pulses with life, is filled with emotions – often sharper than a desperate scream.
2. Here (at our exercises) it is precisely about such a silence – full of wonder, but perhaps also awe – before the Divine Majesty, before His holiness, omnipotence, love. It is the silence of adoration of His greatness, the silence that pulses with the event of encounter. It can also be the silence of suffering, which only God is able to hear. I do not want to repeat phrases about concentration, about not disturbing each other, about not being distracted – all of this is obvious, known, although not always well understood and accepted. It is not a sporting event – who can keep their mouth shut the longest. It is something completely different – that we learn to savor silence, to rejoice in it, to seek it, because we will not live more intensely anywhere else than precisely in the core of silence. Nothing compares to the depth of these experiences, because it is in silence of wonder, holy awe, suffering, that we can meet the eternal love that longs for an encounter with us. And our hearts also thirst for this meeting, even though so often these raised hearts are drowned out by noise, the speed of life, entertainment, and duties. But here nothing distracts us – we can immerse ourselves in the silence and hush to meet the Unutterable, to meet God Himself.
3. God abides in silence and stillness – before the Word was uttered that created heaven and earth, He was. He also comes to us in silence. The Scripture speaks of this figuratively. Once the Lord said to Elijah in the cave: “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. A great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces – but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind an earthquake – but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire – but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice.” When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (1 Kings 19:11–14). How dynamic this image is! How many events it contains – great and frightening! A mighty whirlwind, the noise of the mountains being torn apart and rocks shattered, the clatter of an earthquake, the crash of fire. But after all that comes a deep silence, and only a gentle breeze is heard – the Lord is coming! Not in noise, not in clamor, but in deep silence.
4. A similar image, though expressing another aspect of silence, is shown to us in the New Testament in the description of Jesus calming the storm. The evangelist depicts equally dynamic scenes: the raging wind, waves sinking the ship, the cries and fear of the apostles who awaken Jesus, and His calm contrasting with it all – He says only one word, after which “there was a great calm” (Mt 8:26; cf. Mk 4:39; Lk 8:24). The psalmist praises God's power that calms the elements: “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses: He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven” (Ps 107:28–30).
5. Thus we see the connection between silence and prayer – the thanksgiving of a person terrified by the forces of nature, which God then calms. However, we can also interpret these events as a symbol of the whole human life and the situation of the human heart. A person who lives in constant noise, terrified by internal storms, earthquakes, fires burning within them, cries out to God to calm the raging forces. And lo, God responds – He comes in silence, in a gentle breeze, cooling the fevered heart and mind, quieting the clamor of events – peace and silence arrive, and from the aggrieved human heart emerges a thanksgiving for the relief of exhalation, for the peace that has set in. Because one desires this most in the depths of the heart, even when chasing one's goals, being troubled, and burdened in the noise of haste. How beautifully Scripture speaks of the calming presence of God as a weaned child in its mother's arms (cf. Ps 131). For it is “good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:26), it is good to wait in silence for His answer to our call (cf. 1 Samuel 25:9).
6. And so we touch upon the second aspect of silence and stillness – it is prayer! What a noble prayer, not an easy prayer, from which we tend to run away. And it is precisely in it that the deepest encounter and unity with the Beloved happens. Let's imagine a couple in love – this image is often offered by Scripture to express the relationship between God and humanity. Young people in love do not just talk together. They spend much time together in silence. Is this silence empty? Not at all – it pulses with life and love. It contains so much that it cannot be replaced by anything else, because “there is a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Both are needed: And when they want to express their love to each other, do they do it in the noise? Instead, they seek a quiet, secluded place where no one will disturb them, where the atmosphere will be fitting. This confession will probably not resemble a roaring stream, a raging storm; rather, we might compare it to a gentle breeze because it takes place amidst the silence, which is broken only by a few words and sighs: I love you, and similarly short, but with such rich content, the reply: me too, or even without words – throwing oneself into an embrace. Is anything more needed? Around them is silence, but their hearts, united by this confession, have never experienced anything greater. Silence reigns because nothing more can be said – words can no longer express anything beyond this. It is precisely this kind of prayer – the prayer of the heart – that we want to learn in silence and stillness. We can cry out with the bride from the Song of Songs: “Be silent! My beloved! Behold, he comes.” Silence! Let us not disturb this wonderful moment. “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to me: ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away’” (Song of Solomon 2:9–10). And so it remains only to plunge into His embrace in silence.
7. Such encounter with God in love, unity with Him, being captivated only by His presence, calm before Him – is already contemplation. This word somewhat repels us; we are afraid of it; we think it belongs to strict monasteries, yet contemplation is the most sublime song of our heart that professes love to God and listens to His reply. St. Therese of Lisieux (from whom Mother Teresa took her name and to whom she often refers) said: “To pray means not to speak much, but to love much.” Perhaps that is why Jesus said that many words in prayer are unnecessary (cf. Mt 6:7). Therefore He recommended: “Enter your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place” (Mt 6:6) because in the center of silence and stillness is God, and meeting with Him gives birth to prayer. The prophet also invites us: “Be silent in the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand! The Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated those whom He called” (Zephaniah 1:7). Let our loving hearts be the offering we bring to Him as a gift at the feast of joy to which He has invited us. Let us prepare this gift in silence and stillness, in the utmost concentration, so that it may be worthy of the Divine Bridegroom.
8. There can, however, be – as I mentioned – also the silence of suffering. Each of us knows this all too well. Silence hides many of our worries and pains. But even here, in the midst of our suffering wrapped in silence, we can encounter God, who accompanies us, hears the groans of our hearts and understands it, for He Himself suffered on the cross. Only to Him, who suffered so much, can we confidently open our hearts, for He is able to have compassion for us, as He has been tested like us in all things except sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). And again – in the midst of this silent suffering, which we cannot share with anyone else but Him, prayer is born – a prayer of trust and surrender, a dialogue of living, pulsating hearts.
9. There can also exist the silence and stillness of repentance. We are well aware of the strict simplicity of the liturgy of Holy Week when the organs and bells fall silent, when we fast, which can only be fully experienced in silence (cf. Isaiah 58:4). Silence and stillness shroud the sacred awe over the suffering of the Savior for our sins. In silence, we wait for the coming of love's God to forgive our sins and again lovingly embrace us. In silence, we gaze at Christ's tomb, contemplating His descent into the abyss of death, over which He ultimately triumphed in the silence of Easter morning. Silence conceals these days of waiting for joyful bells proclaiming the resurrection. Is this not the silence of repentance, the silence of awaiting forgiveness and the joy of resurrection a beautiful prayer? No words are needed; a tear of contrition, sorrow over what our sin has contributed, can express more than the longest speech. It is good to be silent before the Lord, for in this silence, there is fullness that no other kind of prayer possesses.
10. As a model for keeping silence and stillness for us, we can take Jesus Himself. He said: “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:29). Let us then look at His attitude and learn how to live the exercises and our whole life well. Behold, the silence of His birth. He came into the world in the Bethlehem manger, without fanfare and celebrations. The silence of His life in Nazareth. The silence that accompanied the forty days of fasting during which He prepared for His public ministry. The silence of lonely night prayers – He often withdrew from the noisy crowds to meet in silence with the Father and drew strength for further work from that meeting. Especially dramatic was the silence of the night spent in Gethsemane as He prepared for death on the cross. Then came the silence before the Sanhedrin and before Pilate’s court. Finally, the silence of lonely dying on the cross. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). He did not argue, nor did He shout; His voice was not heard in the streets. He came to us like a gentle breeze, who would not break a bruised reed and would not quench a smoking flax (cf. Mt 12:19–20). What did He want to teach us, He experienced until the end, and thus His encouragement is so convincing.
11. Jesus encouraged us to remain in silence and blessed silence: “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt 5:5–9). Blessed are those who can turn off the radio or TV, those who can withdraw from the noisy crowd, those who want to seek God in silence and stillness. Blessed also are those who enable others to do this, or at least are not an obstacle when others desire it. Blessed are those who do not shout and do not argue. Each of us can take part in this blessing of Jesus if only we want to take His invitation seriously to learn from Him, for He is gentle and humble.
12. The virtue of silence is also often found in Paul's epistles. He extols a quiet and peaceful life and urges that such a life be led by Christ's disciples (cf. 1 Tim 2:2). He admonishes the undisciplined to “be quiet and gentle in the manner of Christ” (1 Cor 10:1), urges us to always be humble, quiet, and patient, bearing one another in love (cf. Eph 4:2; Col 3:12–13). Silence is according to him an adornment for Christian women (1 Tim 2:11–12). The Old Testament also highly valued silence and stillness as a manifestation of wisdom (Sir 20:1,5; 32:8) and patience in waiting for the right time (Sir 20:6–7; Wis 8:12). This right time may prove to be the moment of grace and the coming of the Lord, who comes in silence as a gentle breeze. Therefore let us wait patiently, not miss the opportunity, and show wisdom and patience. Here we have this time, a time of grace, but also of struggle. Many have already triumphed in this struggle – we too can achieve victory! Here is the time that has been given to us, the time of salvation that is being realized. May the words of the prophet be encouragement to us: “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. The Lord is waiting to be gracious to you” (Isaiah 30:15,18).
13. Finally, let us quiet our hearts and listen to the words of Mother Teresa, who speaks of silence and prayer: “God loves silence. It is necessary for us to seek God, but we will not find Him in noise and confusion. Look at how trees, flowers, grass – all of nature grows in deep silence; in what silence the stars, the moon, and the sun move. The more we receive in our silent prayer, the more we will be able to give others in our active lives. Silence allows us to look at everything from a different perspective. We need this silence to touch souls. What is most important is not what we say, but what God speaks to us and through us.
