The Power of Silence: A Journey Into the Lord's Presence
Our August Catholic book of the month is The Power of Silence - Against the Dictatorship of Noise. It is an interview of Robert Cardinal Sarah with Nicolas Diat on the dire need for silence in our age — Enter the presence of God through the door of silence.. a personal silence that leads to a prayerful spirit and union with God. Many people may discount the need for silence or think that it isn’t achievable in our age. Sarah acknowledges the excessive noise generated by our modern world and that finding silence has become a serious challenge, but he argues that it is more necessary than ever before. This challenge is echoed by George Cardinal Pell who understands that “Carthusian silence is not an option for most of us, but busy people also need to be silent and know God.”
What is silence? Most would say that it is simply the absence of noise, but Cardinal Sarah says it is so much more: “Silence is not an absence. On the contrary, it is a manifestation of a presence, the most intense of all presences.” And there are different types of silence that we must practice to achieve it. Sarah speaks of external and internal silence and even silence of the eyes!
Get your copy of The Power of Silence to learn what silence is, why it is so vital for us and our salvation, and how we can achieve it, even in our modern society that Cardinal Sarah says “no longer hears God because it is constantly speaking, at a devastating speed and volume, in order to say nothing.”
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“Noise, as C.S. Lewis’ devil Screwtape famously said, is the music of hell. Cardinal Sarah offers us a richly engaging, elegantly written reflection on the importance of recovering silence in our own lives, and through silence, rediscovering the presence of God, the beauty of creation, and the nature of our mission as disciples.”
Most Rev. Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia
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