God is the Friend of Silence

“…his mother kept all these things in her heart.” Luke 2:51

If Mary had a diary, what would it contain? She had to deal with sorrows and challenges no one on earth had had to deal with before or since! She probably had questions no one had answers for! And she kept all of this in her heart, she pondered them.

Perhaps if we pondered more often, we would be able to deal with our trials and questions better! The meaning of ponder is to reflect or contemplate. The word comes from the Latin “ponderare” which literally means to weigh, and “pondus” which means weight. It is not overthinking but meditating, opening our spiritual eyes. 

Sometimes we too do not understand all the goings on in our life. All does not have to be clear. All we have to do is to have God’s word in our hearts and mind, the Word dwelling within us. If we keep Jesus with us, and we do not always put ourselves first, we can be sure His Spirit will lead the way. 

Perhaps we can be reminded by these words from Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “We need to find God and God cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees and flowers and grass—grow in silence. See the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within—words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”

Or perhaps the advice from another Saint, “Ponder the fact that God has made you a gardener, to root out vice and to plant virtue.” (St. Catherine of Siena)