Thought of the Day July 8, 2020 The silence of mercy
When you pray and hear only silence from heaven, know that God is
working in that silence.
Perhaps it's the silence
of His loving rebuke—God is shaking you free from a certain stubborn sin in
your life. The silence is a grace invitation to examine our conscious to see if there is an unrepentant, habitual sin within us.
Perhaps it is the silence of mercy—God is giving you time to reflect
on His goodness. If he would speak, it may be a word of judgment and
chastisement for our sins.
Or perhaps it is the
silence of waiting. God wants you to trust Him and to rest in His promises. He
has not forgotten you. His silence may be an act of deep love on His part because
it is actually an invitation to turn to Him on a very deep level. God’s
silence allows us to move from a faith fed by previous accomplishments to a
faith fostered by pure trust in His mercy.
During this time of
silence we tend to question God, like Job and like the Israelites. We wonder if he
is listening. Pope Benedict XVI stated
this human feeling: “God’s aloofness, his darkness and the problematic about
Him, are today more intense than ever; even we, who strive to be believers,
frequently have the sensation that the reality of God has escaped our hands.
Don’t we often ask ourselves why He seems hidden under the immense silence of
this world? Don’t we sometimes have the impression that, after much reflection,
we are only left with words, while the reality of God is more distant than
ever?” (Joseph Ratzinger 1967)
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