Sacred Space

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112125.cfm

The Mediterranean world in the first century could be a noisy place. Markets always included people haggling, even arguing. The culture was one of open confrontation where loud challenge and riposte was not uncommon. It could be hard to find a place of quiet. Well, I guess the times they aren't a changing.

As a place of community gathering, our churches can certainly be a place that is abuzz with good, healthy greeting and conversation. This is one of the most critical components of what our churches should be - a place of gathering and community and comradery. But that can't be all they are. It actually can't be the primary thing they are. Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that His Father says "my house shall be a house of prayer." This is entirely for OUR benefit.

God doesn't need the quiet - we do. Sometimes we are resistant to it. We don't like the quiet because it is there that we meet the person that we sometimes like the least - ourselves. Polite conversation and chit-chat allow us to stay on the surface and not deal with the challenges that we face inside. We do the same thing at home, leaving the TV on for some 'background noise' or listening to the radio in the car. We tend to avoid quiet time alone with ourselves.

This should not be the case in our churches for one very important reason. We are not just alone with ourselves. We are there with the one who knows us best, who has known us from the womb. The one who can testify to our goodness, and maybe more importantly - restore it. We need time in quiet to gather our week and consider how it has gone and where we need help, and what we need forgiveness for. When we prepare in this way, our venial sins are forgiven through the Eucharist at Mass. When we don't prepare - they aren't. That's right. Hundreds of people in every church walk in and out without availing themselves of the one thing they will not get anywhere else in the world: forgiveness for their sins. This is a tragedy and our time of silence is the key to ending it.

Accordingly, it also falls to each of us to help preserve the environment where this can happen. As we enter the Sanctuary, our voices, when used, should automatically be hushed. We should consider whether what we have to say can wait. We should consider if we are turning our church into a 'conversational' marketplace - not only bypassing our own opportunity to spend quiet time with the Lord but impeding on the ability of others to do so.

Absolute silence will never be achieved and we should not expect it. Children are often hard to control, even by the very best parenting, so we have to exercise patience. Encouraging our churches to have practices that preserve as much quiet as possible is helpful. Our own pursuit of whatever quiet we can muster is the most important element. Sometimes, when we are pursuing the Lord in the silence of our hearts, we can do it even amongst some distracting chatter. Find the time and the place that allow this to happen for you, and don't ever forego the opportunity to meet with the Lord in quiet of your heart, in the midst of His house.