Silence is a gift. The blast of traffic, muzak, emails, the insistent ringing of the phone – we are forever bombarded by noise. Silence is a blessed relief, that silence where rest and calm make their home in us. It is a gift, for our effort to produce it is just one more form of noise. Silence descends from above, whence every good gift comes, and we gladly surrender to its serenity.

So it is, in the early morning or at the fall of night we sit still, leaving all the fuss and bother, the anxiety and stress. Like Mary in her house at Nazareth, we are quiet, expectant.

Then, wonder of wonders, the Word before all words, starts to reverberate in us. In that silence we hear the Word spoken once and forever from the beginning. We are able to hear, truly hear. And we draw close to the One who speaks to us in the silence of his Word, and we draw close to each other as well, without the barrier of talk.

The Word comes to birth in us, as he did in Mary. And we sing a new song, a song never heard before, our song, as Mary did in her Magnificat.

So, the beginning of all prayer is silence. Let us enter into it.