October 3 – Holy Silence
Silence is not the absence of sound but the absence of self. Martin Laird
Gregg’s Reflection
Thomas Keating once said, “God’s first language is silence.” I’ve found this to be true: whenever I enter stillness, it feels less like I’m creating silence and more like I’m entering a language already spoken by God. In silence, my prayers take a different shape — not words to be said, but space to be received.
The challenge, of course, is that silence also surfaces the noise within. My thoughts scatter, memories interrupt, and anxieties make their presence known. But if I stay, a gentle shift happens: the surface noise calms, and something deeper begins to speak. The Spirit whispers in ways that no words could capture.
Thomas Merton captured this beautifully: “It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.” Holy silence is never for ourselves alone — it softens our hearts, makes us gentler, and equips us to love.
And the Welsh poet R. S. Thomas reminds us of silence’s power to hold even our restless thoughts:“The silence holds with its gloved hand the wild hawk of the mind.”
That image has stayed with me — silence does not eliminate our wild thoughts but holds them gently, taming them with presence. In holy silence, we rediscover the God who has been speaking all along, not in the noise of our striving but in the quiet of being present.
Scripture
To you, silence is praise, O God in Zion.
Psalm 65:1
Ancient Quotes
We must know that the very best and noblest attainment in this life is to be silent and let God work and speak within.
Meister Eckhart, Sermon 1
Modern Quotes
It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.
Thomas Merton
Silence is not the absence of sound but the absence of self.
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation, p. 28
The silence holds with its gloved hand the wild hawk of the mind.
R. S. Thomas, The Untamed
Journaling Prompts
- What happens inside you when you allow yourself to enter holy silence?
- How has silence softened your heart toward others?
- What “wild hawk of the mind” might God be holding gently in silence today?
- How might you hear God’s first language of silence more deeply this week?
Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 40 Reflection: Stillness & Silence