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Real Silence - REFLECTION ON THE POPE'S MONTHLY INTENTIONS. by apostleshipofprayer on Sep 24, 2013More
Real Silence - REFLECTION ON THE POPE'S MONTHLY INTENTIONS.
by apostleshipofprayer on Sep 24, 2013
Irapuato
General Intention - Value of Silence
That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence
and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.
When Pope Francis was elected on March 15 this year, he immediately asked the people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for him. He said: “I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the …More
General Intention - Value of Silence
That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence
and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.
When Pope Francis was elected on March 15 this year, he immediately asked the people gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for him. He said: “I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me.” And then he bowed his head.
Pope Francis, like all people of faith, knows how essential silence is for prayer.
Yet we live in a noisy world. We listen to music and talk radio in the car. We turn on the television at home. Through the internet we fill our minds with news, opinions, and images. Pope Benedict called this “torrent of words and images” the enemy of prayer. “Inward and outward silence are necessary if we are to be able to hear this word….Ours is an era that does not encourage recollection; indeed, one sometimes gets the impression that people are frightened of being cut off, even for an instant, from the torrent of words and images that mark and fill the day.”
The antidote is silence. “The very fact of enjoying silence and letting ourselves be ‘filled,’ so to speak, with silence, disposes us to prayer. God speaks in silence, but we must know how to listen.”
Rather than isolate us, silent prayer actually increases our loving service to others. Pope Benedict said: “Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbors so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ.”
We join Pope Francis in praying that all people may rediscover the value of silence so that God’s love may flow through them and into the world.
Reflection
How is being silent in the presence of another a sign of deep love?
Scripture
1 Kings 19:11-13 God is present in “a tiny whispering sound.”
www.apostleshipofprayer.org/reflectionsmonthly.html