Fr. Steve recently offered a homily on the value and significance of silence in the mass. This emphasis on silence as a means and medium of cultivating and strengthening our relationship to God is common to all the faith traditions of the world, including Christianity: St. John of the Cross once reflected that “Silence is God’s first language,” and centuries later Fr. Thomas Keating further added that “everything else is a poor translation.” As God is always more than, beyond, deeper, subtler, greater, and softer than any concept or construct we use to explain the Great Mystery or to dialogue with the Divine, there is no communication method or “device” which can fully open us to Divine Presence. Words, music. motion, and any other avenue of prayer can offer glimpses, shades of God, but the space and stillness in between these things has the opportunity to be even more significant, for only the spaciousness, the openness, the boundlessness of interior silence, beyond even the inner dialogue of our own thoughts, can approach the true immensity of God.
One time-tested approach for building relationship with God is the Centering Prayer Method. MMOC hosts a regular Centering Prayer gathering on the third Tuesday of each month from 10:30-11:30 am in classrooms 1 & 2. The next gathering will be held on July 15. If you’re interested in tasting more silence in your spiritual life, you are invited to participate! Please visit Sign Up Genius or call the Parish Office to register.