When the Bible Goes Silent

There are several significant time gaps in which Holy Scripture is “silent.” To just name a few. The one that we are all very familiar with, the silent years of Christ. All we are told of our Lord during this time is found in Luke where the evangelist writes, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). We can speculate and imagine all we want but none of the Gospel writers tell us what occurred during this time. Another span of time that remains hidden to us is a significant one that could have lasted over 1000 years. The record between Noah after the flood and the call of Abraham falls silent. This post flood generation gap only offers us the repopulation of the earth and the Tower of Babel. Lastly, between the ending of the Old Testament (Old Law) and the New Testament (New Law) there is a 400 year gap. Between Malachi and John the Baptist, there are no prophecies or any historical events although there was a lot happening at this time which included the rise of Greek and Roman culture. These examples plus more that the reader can find, does not point to nothing but to a very spiritual practice that all of us who live in an age of social media, and global connections should apply and exercise on a daily basis–silence.

When the Bible is silent, this is not because nothing important is happening and that God is inactive. We read in 1 Kings 19:12 that God is not found in the wind, earthquake or fire but in a still small voice. In Psalm 46:10 we read, “Be still, and know that I am God,” which teaches us that God reveals himself in silence. In Habakkuk 1:5, God states that what He is planning to do is so unbelievable that even if it was told to someone, no one would believe it. This implies God working in silence. Silence also does not diminish the authority of God moving through history. Between gaps, God oversees for example, the fall and rise of nations and its leaders. We read from Daniel 2:21 and 4:32 that God is the one who “changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings.” God is always moving His creation according to his will. We read from Ephesians 1:11 that God "works all things according to the counsel of his will."

It is clear as we read through Holy Scripture that there are times of major events that are to be mentioned and read and then there are times of great silence which calls all of us to quiet ourselves and listen to what it is that God wants us to hear. Learning from the Saints on silence we have various quotes:

St. John of the Cross: 

"Retiring into silence and solitude, man, so to speak, is ‘exposed’ to reality in his nakedness."

St. Faustina Kowalska:

 "What we need most in order to make progress is to be silent before this great God with our appetite and with our tongue, for the language he best hears is silent love."

St. Isaac the Syrian: 

"Love silence above all things, because it brings you near to fruit that the tongue cannot express."

St. Ignatius of Antioch: 

"It is better to keep silence and be than to talk and not to be."

St. Alphonsus de Liguori: 

"God does not speak to us in distraction and noise, but in silence. Only in silence is the Lord heard."

St. Francis De Sales: 

"A judicious silence is always better than truth spoken without charity."

St. Maximilian Kolbe:

 "Silence is necessary, and even absolutely necessary. If silence is lacking, then grace is lacking."

St. Arsenius: 

"If you wish to be saved, fly into solitude, observe silence, and repose in God by always keeping yourself in his presence."

Venerable Fulton Sheen: 

"As a sleepwalker will not awaken to every sound but will often respond when his name is called, so the soul in silence hears the Divine vocation and awakens."

St. Bruno: 

"Until I was alone I never really lived. Until I was alone, I was not with myself. Until I was alone, I never drew near to my creator."

What we can learn from all of what the Saints have said about silence can be summarized simply that our salvation which includes the history of salvation found in Holy Scripture comes from a God who is in no need to always use words because He is the Word that chose to speak to us through His Son Jesus Christ we chose often to be hidden and silent, and this is where the Saints learned the importance of silence. They imitated our Lord. Just to mention a few verses:

Mark 1:35: 

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

Luke 5:16: 

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

Matthew 14:23:

 "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone."

Be it the silence found in Scripture when it comes to salvation history or the lives of the Saints or most importantly from Christ Himself, silence is an important element to our relationship with God. It is a virtue that we should be practicing more and more. This of course does not come easy when the world is so full of noise. I would like to recommend the following books:

The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Robert Cardinal Sarah (with Nicolas Diat)

The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass by Fr. Boniface Hicks, OSB

From Silence to Silence by Fr. Francis Bethel, OSB

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis 

I hope that this article has been a resource for the reader and I pray that we all find holy silence in our life.