In his new book, “The Power of Silence,” Cardinal Robert Sarah describes the problems of fear, anxiety, personal disorientation, other social dysfunctions and spiritual illnesses in our culture. These cultural ‘illnesses’ are largely attributed to an absence of the ability to sit in silence before the unfathomable reality who is God. The remedy for these malaises, according to Cardinal Sarah, is silence.
The noise of the world not only affects the ears, it also affects the eyes and the human heart. He quotes Jesus from (Mt 13:13,15), “seeing they do not see, hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand….For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn to me to heal them.” This is most noticeable with the rejection of the Church’s teaching on sexual moral ethics concerning contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage and many other sexual dysfunctions.
Modern culture no longer seems to have the ability to sit quietly before God and contemplate the greater truths of life and faith. Cardinal Sarah explains that noise of the world not only enters through the ears, but also enters through all the senses of the body. This noise is a deceptive, addictive and false tranquilizer of the weariness of the human person. We must learn to close our eyes in order to contemplate God who is in us and hear the voice of Truth dwelling in the abyss of our hearts. In silence, man is absorbed by the divine and the world’s movements no longer have any hold on his soul.
