Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons -13th August 2023

Aug 12th, 2023

Prophet Elias Greek Icon

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Four words come to mind when I reflect of the readings for our Sunday, prayer, courage and sheer silence. Prayer I link to Jesus in Matthews Gospel as he steps aside to be alone on the mountain in silent prayer before he walks into the wind and storm on the sea towards the storm tossed fishing boat of his disciples, and where he calls to the terrified men before he reaches the boat '"Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."" (Mt 14: 27) Words he often says to those who follow him in one form or another, words which are directly aimed towards our fears and uncertainties today. Then those two words 'sheer silence' are perhaps the best translation of the idiom that applies to a manifestation of the presence of God which here is applied to the event that happened to Elijah outside the cave on Mount Horeb in our first reading from the Book of Kings. Our translations often have 'quiet voice' or 'gentle presence or wind' as this manifestation of the Holy One, but the Hebrew idiom really points to complete and absolute silence, hence my preference for that strong image of sheer impenetrable silence.

How do we connect this silence with God? What is it to do with Jesus walking on the water and calming the fears of Peter? What can it mean for us today? Last week I shared in my reflection the death of Dom Godefroy Abbot of Acey in the Jura and reminded myself of the deep monastic tradition I still make my own. In his Cistercian life, silence is a constituent part of the daily life of the monastery for the Rule of Saint Benedict makes it part of the atmosphere of the monastery and interior life of the monastic disciple, but this is not easy, nor does anybody immediately grasp what silence is about-that only be practice and effort does it become a way of life in which we dialogue with the Holy One.

Like many of my family I enjoy chatting, talking, but I also really appreciate my own daily need for a time to plunge into quiet, a necessary and alive time where in silence I just let go and learn to listen beyond the quiet. I love the deepness of those types of silences we might find, the soothing quality of an absence of noise, but ever since I got tinnitus, my appreciation of silence has been a journey through another Hebrew translation of silence as 'a hissing of the wind!' Yet if I concentrate on that inner hiss, I can get beyond it to a hint of a depth of profound richness, what I dare to call, the sound of silence, and that I think is exactly what Elijah found.

Let us share this a bit more. Jesus in the Gospel, seeks solitude and quiet to enter into prayer, something we know is part of his relationship with the Abba, and to do this, here we find him on a mountain, maybe surrounded by various noises, wind, bird cry, cracking of rocks perhaps, a music of the earth that sings him into another direction, for beyond these noises comes a complete quiet, not an absence but that sheer wall of silence, a living moment of encounter where words and noise fall apart as we listen for God. As with Elisha those silences of Jesus are to do with God's actions and as with Elisha after his prayer and silence Jesus goes out to be the Word of life for his disciples, for those words he speaks; 'courage, do not be afraid' are also words directed at us. 'Listen,' he seems to be saying, 'please really listen to me!'. That's the voice of the gospel that we are called to hear, not as mere words, but as so much more, as Jesus the Word-of-Life.

Perhaps the picture of what happened on the Mountain of Horeb with Elijah might prepare and help us a bit more, teaching us to make time and space in our lives to help enable us to gradually experience the sheer silence of God in prayer. Elijah's story helps us remind ourselves that before all else the Commandment of Jesus calls us to love God, and in order to love well we have to learn a language of silence which means listening and simply being with the other. Prayer is part of this engagement, and silence is the key. Elijah is told that God is coming to visit him. This is prepared for by a series of massive disturbances, much as we have seen in our climatic change this summer across the globe, but in each of these events God is not present, for God is not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, that moment of encounter comes after these theophanies, much as the presence of Jesus came to the frightened disciples in their boat after storm, wind, and perhaps a tumult like an earthquake.

The presence of the Divine came to them as it does for us when fright, that negative fear, turns to the 'awe' of love and immense wonder, when like Elijah we encounter in our depths what we think we are most frightened of, only to find we have a courage born out of desperate love. Silence should not frighten us, for in the hissing of the silence, beyond the noise outside, is a voice, and we shall know it. Then like Elijah we will be free to come out of our caves where we have hidden ourselves, to stand and face the One who seeks us. Thomas Merton puts it this way:

"For language to have meaning, there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance. He who retires into silence does not necessarily hate language. Perhaps it is love and respect for language which imposes silence upon him. For the mercy of God is not heard in words unless it is heard, both before and after the words are spoken, in silence".

(Thomas Merton (1976). "The Power and Meaning of Love")

Lectio Divina

From an article on The Jesus Prayer

by Dom Bede Griffiths OSB Cam

The Tablet 1992

So I say the Jesus prayer, asking to be set free from the illusions of the world, from the innumerable vanities and deceits with which I am surrounded. And I find in the name of Jesus the name which opens my heart and mind to reality. I believe that each one of us as an inner light, an inner guide, which will lead us through the shadows and illusions by which we are surrounded, and open our minds to the truth. It may come through poetry or art, or philosophy or science, or more commonly through the encounter with people and events day by day.

Personally I find that meditation, morning and evening, every day, is the best and most direct method of getting in touch with reality. In meditation I try to let go of everything of the outer world of the senses, of the inner world of thoughts, and listen to the inner voice, the voice of the Word, which comes in the silence, in the stillness when all the activity of mind and body ceases. Then in the silence I become aware of the presence of God, and I try to keep that awareness during the day. In bus or train or travelling by air, in work or study or talking and relating to others, I try to be aware of this presence in everyone and in everything.

And the Jesus prayer is what keeps me aware of that presence.

So prayer for me is the practice of the presence of God in all situations, in the midst of noise and distraction of all sorts, of pain and suffering and death, as in times of peace and quiet, of joy and friendship, or prayer and silence, the presence is always there. For me the Jesus prayer is just a way of keeping in the presence of God.

Poem Sheer Silence

Fr Robert Gibbons Obl OSB

The apocalypse is what many fear,

the drama of terror,

earthquake, flood, tsunami, hurricane, fire!

All unwanted

except by those false prophets,

who love the misery of others,

whose ministry is noisy shouting,

bellowing imprecations

and preaching hell fire,

making documentaries about the end time,