God loves silence.
In silence, when all noise and distraction have ceased, there is only God, Who is everywhere. God and us in the silence…together.
Great and mighty things happen in silence. The Eternal Word leapt down from Heaven and became flesh in Mary’s womb … in silence.
“…and on the third day, He arose again from the dead.” In silence.
Little miracles happen in silence too. We go to bed at night and we wake up in the morning, and roses have bloomed and seeds have sprouted and the sun has appeared again….all in silence.
Our Lady is almost completely silent in the gospels, her Immaculate Heart so united to God that she too prefers the silence….so full of God.
On this Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I am thinking of the silence of His Eucharistic Heart beating within us at Holy Communion. I love to ponder the Heart of Jesus embracing my poor little heart and beating with Infinite Love within me, during those precious moments of His Presence…..that union with Him beyond words.
Yet all is silent. I do not sense the flames of Divine Love. I do not hear His sweet voice, or experience the transformation of my soul. But I believe that all of this is present….in the silence in which I immerse myself in thanksgiving.
I try to rest in that silence, my head on His breast, my inner voice stilled. It is enough to be with Him in those few moments, in a mutual embrace of love….in silence.
It is the same when I kneel in Adoration before His Sacred and Eucharistic Heart. Those hours are the most silent periods of my week. Yet, they are the most transformative. I am in His Presence. Nothing more is needed. He is at work in my soul … silently.
An hour, a day, a week, a month later, I experience evidence of those Divine touches. I find patience I did not know I had, forgiveness comes easily, there is strength for a difficult trial, there is peace in my soul, there is joy in my heart. All the work of the Master. He never comes without changing us, without leaving gifts yet to be discovered. You too have experienced this, I know.
And, He does it all….in silence.
Let us not become discouraged because we do not see visions of the Sacred Heart like St. Margaret Mary, or do not experience Jesus placing a flame of His Heart within us as He did to this humble nun..
Let us not even doubt when we walk the path of spiritual dryness and darkness and feel as though Jesus has abandoned us. That will never happen. He likes to hide, that we might seek Him more, as the bride in the Song of Songs sought her Lover.
And are they not especially silent, these times of aridity and spiritual desolation? Great graces are being showered upon us, if we remain faithful to God….in the silence.
Our poor little hearts are so easily distracted by what our senses perceive. But God gives us the gift of silence wherein there is only He, and nothing created to compete with the One we cannot yet see.
What joy we will bring to the Sacred Heart of Jesus today, if we seek Him in silence, draw near and rest our head upon that Heart which is filled with such unimaginable tenderness for each one of us.
“Behold this Heart which has so loved men, but is loved so little in return.” Jesus to St. Margaret Mary.
Let us love Him in return….in silence, which is, after all, the language of Love.
(If you would like to read more about silence, please visit my friend Theresa’s blog, desert of my heart, where she writes so beautifully on this topic.)