There is a place in our private prayers for silence. “Be still and know that I am God,” the Scriptures tell us. When we pray privately, there is a time for silence, for wonder, and for awe as we listen to the movements of God’s grace. Regarding the public prayer of the Church, the Mass, a great deal depends on our private prayer said at other times. Our personal prayers fuel a deeper meaning and relevance to the corporate prayer with its accompanying moments of silence. Unless we are accustomed to private prayer, the place for silent prayer at Mass will not be fruitful. There is a place for silence in the beginning of Mass and for reflection on our sinfulness just before the priest asks the congregation to express their sorrow publicly. Hopefully, at the end of the Scripture reading, the Reader will give us a moment to reflect on what has just been heard. God speaks to us in the Scripture service and it may be that some phrase or word will touch us. Certainly there is an intended theme or message and it is often picked up by our response to the reading. A silent pause, no matter how brief, should come after the Gospel and at the end of the homily. During the preparation of the gifts (of bread and wine), there are moments when we silently offer ourselves, our work, our play and our lives to God. We do not enter into the liturgy cold but rather bring our needs, hopes, aspirations and insights from private prayer. There are moments for private acts of faith at the beginning of the Mass, at the Offertory and at the elevation of the consecrated hosts and precious blood. We pause quietly again to pray for the living and the dead. The most important moment for silence is at the time immediately following Holy Communion. We spend a little time at Mass making our Thanksgiving. Do we realize who has just come to us in Communion or is it “eat-and-run”? The latter is impolite even in ordinary gatherings for meals. Finally, there is the time at the conclusion of the Mass. Unfortunately, while a few are trying to pray quietly in the church, they are distracted by others engaging in conversation. Silence is golden, especially when it reflects a preoccupation with God and his presence.
Filed under: Awalt Papers |
Blogger Priest 
Dear Fr Joe,
There are many references to Jesus going to a quiet place to pray, especially before his arrest , trial and execution. He also went out to the desert for 40 days in quiet prayer to The Father. Yes, I know it’s also recorded that He regularly went to the synagog and also that His Apostles said prayers communially and sang a hymn on one occasion, but, silence is and has always been a very important part of our celebration of public worship in the Mass.
To try to suggest that there are times of quiet prayer in the New Rite is as mad as suggesting that the congregation understood every word of Latin in the Old. There is no silence and no opportunity for real silence at Mass and that has been the case for about 50 years now.
As for thinking about the scriptural reading…..well, in between the very badly behaved kids next to me eating their breakfast that a very fat mother had brought with her, the Primadonna Rosso exposing her naked flesh in the row in front, the violent and hyperactive guitarrists and drum major invading the sanctuary of the altar and the exhibitionist behind me experimenting with off beat harmonies, I did start to wonder just how I failed to show that I was part of God’s community because I did not talk in tongues, I was not able to pick up snakes without being bitten and should I drink poison then I would surely die, but my reverie and interlude of inner quietude was immediately curtailed by the electric piano striking up a Cum-bye-yah, and off we were again into noise-land.
Perhaps I should abandon going to Church altogether and just concentrate on private and quiet prayer here at home, but then I would be the biggest hypocrit of the lot because I judge as valueless the ‘enclosed’ orders who do nothing in or for society and merely indulge in a selfish whim of escapism and so called prayer, the results of which can hardly be described as empirical and effective. Does God listen to their prayers? Probably. Does he do anything about them?………not from the evidence that I see all around me.
My only consolation is that: “the end is near; the end, in fact, is very near”, and for that I am truly thankful
With love, Paul