"Tyranny of Noise"

The psalmist asks how long they will "assail a person...batter your victim" (Psalm 62).  When the noise around is so loud it is not so easy to do as the psalmist does "For God alone my soul waits in silence" or invite the Divine to "come with the refreshing silence of your peace" as Merton prays.

Silence is not simple the absence of noise any more than peace is the absence of war or health the absence of illness.  That is a negative definition, reductionist and simplistic.

In the midst of pain and of concern for two friends i found my moments of silence resting in divine peace when gazing at furled fern-tips in the glasshouses of the Botanics.

Focus came as i concentrated on a jewel-like water droplet on the tip of a leaf-hair and worship was held as we returned outside to marvel at the clouds in abstract patterns across the canvas above us.

The tyranny Merton refers to is idle chatter, "secular" Christmas seasons, shouting our demands louder than the next person.  Travelling through Advent with Mary i can't imagine she had much time for quiet reflection!  But nor do i think she spent time in idle chatter or shouting in the streets!  She surely  moaned occasionally about back pain, swollen ankles, odd cravings!  She also must have shed some tears of confusion and fear as she struggled to come to terms with her pregnancy, the angelic visitation and the reality of her situation.

For God alone my soul waits in silence, not always in an absence of noise, not always peace-filled...