The Saint of Silence – Br. Lucas Hall
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Br. Lucas Hall
It is an old monastic custom that on Saturdays not otherwise devoted to particular observances, we mark the day with special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is for a number of reasons. As Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and Saturday gives way to Sunday, we take Saturdays to honor the one who helped bring forth Christ into the world. Another reason is that Saturday is traditionally the last day of the week, the last day of Creation in the Genesis story, and Mary has a special association with Creation, as she is the one through whom God the Creator put on the Creation in the Incarnation of Jesus.
I’d like to focus on one more reason, though. Saturday is not just the last day of the week of Creation, but it is the day of rest. The Genesis story recounts God creating everything from Sunday through Friday, and taking Saturday as a day of Sabbath rest. This idea of Sabbath rest is not understood as one of idle pleasure, but rather, as a day of holy rest, a devotional offering, a weekly marking of silence, stillness, and single-minded, single-hearted devotion that requires putting down other things, even if those things, those thoughts and activities, are important. And Mary is very much associated with these qualities of devotion through silence and stillness. Most obviously, Mary is described in Luke’s Gospel as beholding amazing things, and her reaction is not to speak or act, but she is repeatedly described as pondering and treasuring these things in her heart. It was Mary who, at the wedding at Cana, informed Jesus of their running out of wine; when Jesus told her that it was not yet the hour of his revelation, she did not argue or protest, she responded by simply telling those there to heed whatever Jesus told them to do. Mary was one of the few faithful who remained present at the Crucifixion, while many of Jesus’s other followers were in hiding, abiding in stillness through the tragedy of her son’s death and burial. Mary, again and again, teaches us how to respond to this rather odd man, Jesus.
This silence and stillness has long inspired the monastic life, specifically. But while monastic life is arguably the most obvious Christian expression of this vocation, it is a vocation in which every Christian partakes. And it is a deeply counter-cultural one. When the priest and theologian Donald Allchin wrote about the reemergence of Anglican religious orders in the 1800s, including SSJE, he titled this boo The Silent Rebellion, writing specifically that “By their vocation, these monastics made plain the silent rebellion that is at the heart of the vocation of every Christian in baptism.” Monks might make it obvious, but this silence, this stillness, this way of devoting oneself to God, is a function of being not just a monk, but a Christian. And it is this vocation to silence, and to stillness, that I believe is so foundational to the life of the Christian, that is so easy to overlook, dismiss, or ignore. Silence and stillness don’t look like much. They sometimes don’t feel like much. But we live in a world where increasingly, the most valuable thing is your attention, with many billions of dollars being spent on figuring out the most effective ways to capture it and keep it. We live in a world that revels in the latest thing by which we should be outraged, so outraged that we click that link and share that video and engage with a never-ending glut of content.
We live in a deeply flawed world. There is much sin to be aware of, and to help correct. But if we as Christians are to participate in building something more holy, more just, and more true, we must remember that there can be no holy word or holy action without holy listening and beholding. We cannot rebel against the idols of this world without being able to put them down and offer our attention to the living God. And by the example of Mary, we may learn and relearn this silent art of beholding.
Your last two paragraphs are so true, Br Lucas, especially this hard-core sentence which surrounds all of us:
“We live in a world that revels in the latest thing by which we should be outraged, so outraged that we click that link and share that video and engage with a never-ending glut of content.”
It’s scary, and those of us in the secular world need to take note about “holy listening”!
How very appropriate, Br. Lucas, to remind us, as Lent approaches, that our attention is now one of the commodities for sale in the sordid marketplace that the internet has become. The great tool for uplifting the human race has degenerated into just another forum for buying and selling mostly worthless stuff. The merchants of everything-for-sale will never reckon it that way, and will go to almost any lengths to see that we keep sharing this commodity with them – but we can fight back.
I keep hoping, every year, that a few more people will understand that the greatest way to keep a Lenten ‘fast’ might be from the tyranny of ‘social’ media and relentless advertising that suck all the life out of genuinely social intercourse and distract us from what is most important for our souls. It doesn’t take much of either brains or heart to recognise the wreckage these things create – we just have to, um, pay ATTENTION to what’s going on and say a firm, even if small, NO to the invasions. As we are now used to hearing from tweets in high places: Thank you for your attention to this matter! And a blessed Lent to you and your brothers.
I have been contemplating what to give up for lent this year, and after listening to this sermon, rather than giving something up, I am going to take something on. During lent, each night before bed, I will sit in stillness, praying and giving thanks for God’s blessings.
Thank you!
Thank you! Your words resonate deeply with me, and are an encouragement to my vocation of solitary anchoress.
Blessings,Sr Laurie
Thank you for your thoughtful and “sound” advice, Br. Lucas. There’s no time like the present to behold.
Wow. Beautifully conceived and written. Thank you for this today.
What a wonderfully packed message of observations and reminders of how all Christians should behave and the purpose of silence. This is the perfect way to start a Saturday morning. Thank you, Brother Lucas.
On this Sabbath Saturday, as the snow falls before dawn, I am glad to behold your words that remind us to revere and practice silence and stillness amid the noisy human tumult all around us. I am so grateful for your contemplative witness, Br. Lucas.
I am reading this as Lent begins 3-5-25. I love your words that resonate deeply within..”silence and stillness don’t look like much.They sometimes don’t feel like much (……… ) ”we must remember that there can be no holy word or holy action without holy listening and beholding”. Thank you for the inspirational truth and direction for my unfolding Lenten season,Br Lucas Hall.
Beautifully expressed, thank you for your writing talent!- stillness, silence, taking time to behold Him who holds us
❤️