The Power of God's Silence - Edgar Javier, SVD

Silence is one form of human communication. It is a language distinct from verbal or non-verbal language. Silence, like a coin, has two sides, one is positive, and the other is negative. Silence, they say, can either promote or hinder communication and relationship.

Talking about silence is a big risk. Uttering a word–one word-about silence is already breaking the meaning  essence of silence. And just as silence speaks for itself, should we not talk about silence in silence? Silence is the absence of words, yet, as a form of communication, it is a powerful kind of language.

Years ago, my father was dying of cancer. Two days before he passed away, he asked us to fetch his mother from another village. She was bedridden because of old age. When we arrived at our grandmother’s house, we were surprised to see that she was sitting on the sofa. We knew that she was not able to walk anymore for quite some time. So we asked her who helped her take a seat on the sofa. To our great surprise, she said, “Your father came and carried me so I could sit on the sofa.” We could not believe what she said. She could not be telling a lie! We kept silence because we did not understand.

When we reached home, my father and his mother – our dear grandmother - had the most beautiful conversation – in silence. It was a wordless conversation. Their eyes met lovingly and both were smiling. I tried to interpret what I saw that was taking place between them. This was my interpretation of the silent conversation. I thought of my father saying good bye to her, while she was asking him to give her his pain and suffering. As usual, a mother would always gladly suffer for her children. It was a very powerful example of communication and relationship of love in silence.

Today, allow me to break silence by speaking to you about the silence of God on Calvary and the silence of Mary at the foot of the cross of her beloved Son–Jesus, the Christ. Why was God so distant and silent on that day? Why was Mary so near to Jesus and yet so silent at the foot of the cross?

For us Christians, the most striking example of God’s silence is when Jesus on the cross cries out with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus felt so abandoned by God, his Father and Mary his dear Mother. Why? Why were the words of encouragement not uttered? Why was there silence at the wrong time and place? “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” “My Mother, why have you abandoned me?’ “My disciples, why have you abandoned me? Why have you run away?”

God did not intervene. God did not take away the cup of suffering and death from his Son. Therefore, God’s silence led Jesus’ to his ignominious death on the cross–a kind of punishment deemed worthy for criminals. But Jesus was not a criminal! He was innocent like a lamb taken to his merciless slaughter.

The silence between God, the Father and Jesus, his beloved Son hid something significant from the crowd on Calvary-the exchange of love that would bear fruit on the third day when Jesus would rise again to a new life, a life that is eternal. God’s silence destroyed death and brought new life to the world through His Son, Jesus–the risen Christ!

The silence between the Father and the Son was full of promise and hope, not of despair. Silence on Calvary acquired meaning in the context of hope that Jesus will rise again. The silence of Mary at the foot of the cross was also very noticeable. She did not utter a single word. Beyond all human suffering that she experienced was her silence. It was her response to the divine silence. Silence made Mary a very strong woman. Her strength was in her great silence that was pregnant with hope.

We pause and ask ourselves, “What is Good Friday 2020 telling us today–in the midst of the pandemic catastrophe that was intentionally or unintentionally caused by Covid-19?

God’s silence can have two different reasons. One reason is that people have not been responding to God’s command to believe in him that He is greater than science and technology. People thought that they were self-sufficient. People made God a kind of commodity. They would go to him only when there is a need! They have dethroned God and enthroned science and technology, its angel! Man has chosen to become a techno sapiens rather than a homo religiosus! And yet, man wonders why God is so silent. Does God not see the suffering of the people and feel their suffering (Exodus 3:1-10).

And the second reason is that God’s silence is a kind of rest. When God seems silent, people tend to fill the empty space with words. But people, who know better, will keep silent and wait in hope. Convid-19 is God’s language in silence. The pandemic is God’s way to speak to us in silence. Silence is indeed God’s language. We have to keep silence in order to hear God and be able to communicate with him in hope.

In a noisy, polluted and radiated world such as ours, the world of the twenty-first century, we thirst for silence. We thirst for inner silence to remain in the mysterious God. It is inner silence that makes it possible to have conversation with God and reflect on Christ’s feeling of abandonment. Silence is also necessary for dialogue with Christ, who was seemingly in despair and yet full of trust and hope in God our Father. And Mary is our model of silence. It was silence that made her understand the sword of sorrow that was prophesied to be experienced by her.

In conclusion, silence is a sacred space for listening. Silence makes us hearers of the Word. Silence is the language of God. I pray: “Lord of silence, I implore you to teach me to listen to your language.” Amen!

Edgar Javier, SVD

Good Friday, 10 April 2020

Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies

Tagaytay City