208. He moved away
“Quiet! Be still!” Mark, chapter 4, verse 39
We wouldn’t like it that much if someone said, “Quiet! Be still!” But this person would possibly serve us well. This is what we need to recognize the presence of the Trinity in our heart.
Only silence can help us hear what Jesus tells us. Only silence allows us to return to Jesus and be free. Silence also allows us to find ourselves and clean out our lives.
Let’s welcome silence as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Some people have the gift of talking, why not ask for the gift of being silent? We may be experiencing the poverty of lack of silence and to speak at the right time.
Silence is not necessarily lack of noise. Silence is a state where we are well, where we develop a sense of serenity and listen to the Lord, to ourselves and others.
We can write, sitting in a restaurant, with some pretty loud music and still be in silence, internally. We can write in a library and silence could bother us. The external noise isn’t the first cause of the lack of silence, but the inner noise, the noise in us. Let’s give the many sounds in us to Jesus.

We would be surprised at the number of people working in the noise, and yet this doesn’t stop them from praying while going along. We can be in silence and be with Jesus, even if our work is noisy.
As soon as we approach Jesus in silence, even if it’s a timid approach, immediately Jesus will be able to obtain us peace. The more we are silent, the more Jesus will touch us subtly and the more we’ll feel his presence.
Is Jesus really present? The question gives out the answer. Yes, he is present. When we say Jesus’s name he is immediately present. We cannot live, love, breathe, sleep, hope, laugh, and so on, without Jesus in us. May we welcome him.
The Holy Spirit is the very sweetness and he displays his strength in the silence of the soul. Now, the Spirit of Jesus will fill us as a breeze in our soul.
Book: Caring for our poverties
Normand Thomas