Silence: availability & penance; Peace: gift of vulnerability & prayer

On Thurs., Sept. 11, we enjoyed the gift of a communal Day of Reflection provided by Fr. John Paul Kuzma, OFM Cap, who works in formation at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio.  We have been blessed by his friendship since his coming to the seminary five years ago.  He gave us two conferences, the first on “Silence” and the second on “Peace.”  

During the first conference, Fr. John Paul led us in an exploration of the many facets of silence and its significance in the spiritual life.  He described the fruits of silence (healing, service, deeper understanding), emphasizing that silence is not necessarily exterior quiet or the absence of sound (in fact, the Divine Liturgy leaves virtually no space for such an absence, being an effulgence of song), but rather is an interior availability, a disposition that enables us to receive the Word.  Ultimately, silence is about listening to the One present within us.  Finally, we examined the penitential aspects of silence: silence can be a form of penance, the curbing of the tongue a remedy to Eve’s original sin of the tongue which drew Adam into her temptation.  Silence is a form of fasting that is accessible to everyone, regardless of whether one has the physical health to abstain from food or stand in vigils.

Fr. John Paul opened the conference on “Peace” by leading us in a meditation on the peace Christ gave to His Apostles in the upper room following His Resurrection, particularly focusing on St. Thomas, and the relationship between peace and vulnerably making our needs known in prayer: it isn’t that the Lord doesn’t know our needs, but in opening them to Him in prayer, we create a door by which the Lord (who entirely respects our freedom and will never force His way in) can enter our wounds.  Thomas cried out, upon hearing from the other disciples that Jesus was risen, “Unless I see the nail prints in His hands and put my hand into the wound in His side, I will not believe!”  Fr. John Paul posited that, perhaps, the experience of being left out was a broader theme in Thomas’s life.  The Lord’s response to Thomas’s declaration of need was to come and allow him to place his “restless hand”—all his frustration and pain—into His own “life-giving side,” as our Kontakion for Thomas Sunday says.  Peace, ultimately, only comes from prayer, and our willingness to be vulnerable in our poverty and need is an essential part of prayer.