Silent night, holy life

The visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, said Fr. Joey Rapadas, ‘is a good reminder that while technology increases our efficiency in communications, among other things, it cannot replace the joy brought by the old-fashioned personal presence and encounter with real people.’

Silent night

Holy night

All is calm

All is bright

’Round yon virgin Mother and Child

Holy infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

One of the most famous Christmas carols, this song has been translated into about 140 languages. No wonder, this was the chosen hymn sung in French, English, and German by troops during the 1914 World War I Christmas truce since it was the most familiar of carols.

It is a song that lingers in my mind and I hum by impulse when Christmas is near. It was a song that I remembered instantly as I intently listened to the homily of Ateneo president Fr. Jett Villarin SJ at the Christ the King in Greenmeadows one anticipated Simbang Gabi.

He spoke about how they found out that most teenagers are bored, which I can strongly relate to as my teenagers always tell me that. Which is actually perplexing nowadays since kids have all the gadgets and hundreds of cable channels to choose from. We zap from channel to channel, site to site. We are drowned by noise, we are captive to busyness.

Fr. Jett said something intriguing and exciting. The peace and the joy are found not in the glittery trappings of the season but in the silent shepherd’s field, in the lowly manger, where the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus celebrated their togetherness, their solidarity in silence.

Come to think of it, there is hardly a place in the modern world where silence is honored and desired even. Yes, sometimes all is silent at the dinner table, but that’s because everyone is on their tablet or smart phone.  We even fall asleep watching 24/7 television or sleep with our headsets on. Yes, when was the last time we were alone with our thoughts and with our God in complete silence? It’s like we are running away from facing our true selves by distracting ourselves with busyness and noise.

Distractions, thanks to modern media, are infinitely on demand. Shouldn’t we demand silence and contemplation this time around? Christmas is a good time to do just that. Fr. Jett reminded the congregation that we don’t prepare externally but should prepare internally.

Maybe a lot of people shun silence because they confuse it with isolation and loneliness. The reality though is that there are things that we notice or discover only through silence.

Centering prayer

Beliefnet.com featured Thomas Keating who, after 20 years of joining a monastic community, co-founded a contemplative practice called “centering prayer” to help others achieve the discipline of quieting thoughts and feelings in order to develop a personal relationship with God.

Keating clarified that centering prayer is “a very simple method in which one opens one’s self to God and consents to His presence in us and to His actions within us.” Centering prayer is a meditative method, where any distractions caused by thoughts or emotions are released while simply “waiting for God” in utter silence. Keating likened it to “two friends sitting in silence, just being in each other’s presence.”

Keating added, “In centering prayer, you let go of any perception when it catches hold of your attention. You constantly let go by returning to the sacred word. At some point, the will begins to habitually turn to God during the prayer; it doesn’t need a sacred word anymore to affirm its intention. It is no longer attracted to the thoughts that continue to go by. Now, the grace of God in Christian spiritual development is capable of touching the will but leaving the other faculties — like imagination or memory — free and so, they may roam around and persecute you while the will feels a certain peace and union with God.”

“The first experience of God as contemplative prayer is analogous to perfume. It is analogous not because you smell something but because of the attraction without a mediator. You smell what you smell. If roses are there, you smell them; if God is there, you enjoy it. But reflecting on the experience usually diminishes it. So you let it come and go; you don’t get attached to it. Unfortunately, when the prayer of quiet is flowing, you want to hang onto the experience for as long as you can.”

Of reunions and visitations

To continue the reflection on the trappings of modern technology and how they hamper relationships with God and each other, I went to the site of Fr. Joey Rapadas,  prizedpearl.blogspot.com, where he said:

“In a restaurant, I’ve watched four fellows seated at one table. For the most part, they were silent because each was busy sending text messages. Isn’t it alarming that they have one another yet they prefer to ignore one another’s presence in favor of a mechanical interaction with somebody out there who, most probably, ignores the company of his own friends, too?

“Another phenomenon that reveals this is the ‘Facebook addiction.’ It is not uncommon now to see people spending most of their time interacting through these Internet social networks. A mother recounted to me her bewilderment at her observation that her children dislike playing with other kids. They hole up in their rooms and interact instead with cyber friends via the Internet.”

The visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, he said, “is a good reminder that while technology increases our efficiency in communications, among other things, it cannot replace the joy brought by the old-fashioned personal presence and encounter with real people. In the light of the visitation, the joy generated by such a personal encounter may be understood in two levels: as the joy of caring and as the joy of celebration.”

“The joy of caring. Mary travelled (for four days, according to scholars) in order to take care of her cousin Elizabeth who in her old age was about to give birth to John. Mary’s visit to Elizabeth displays the deep and loving concern that bonds those whom God calls. In demonstrating this loving concern, joy is a natural product. There is joy in serving and caring for one another even though and precisely because this requires personal self-sacrifice and self-giving. I think this is what is threatened when people settle with the convenient mechanical interaction.

“The joy of celebration. The people of Israel have been longing for the Messiah to liberate them. There is so much suffering and oppression. Their only hope is the coming of the Messiah. Mary and Elizabeth know what’s going on. They both carry in their wombs the fulfillment of the hope of Israel. Their joy then is the joy of celebration. Mary’s visit is meant, more than just to serve her cousin, to celebrate with her the fulfillment of their hope and to share with each other their faith in God’s faithfulness.

“The joy of caring and of celebration of hope and faith is at the heart of such a meaningful personal human encounter between Mary and Elizabeth. This is what is lacking in an easy, ‘safe,’ and convenient mechanical interaction of today’s technological era.

“I am realizing how little time I have spent visiting families. To care and to celebrate with them. I would have brought more joy to people’s lives and to my own, had I been more up close and personal with people.

“How about you? Would you prefer the easy, convenient, mechanical interaction to a real and personal encounter with people and friends? Well, since we all desire true joy in life, it is good to listen to this advent message of joy: the joy of caring and the joy of celebration which can only be had by not being afraid of brushing elbows with real people and getting involved in and identifying with their hopes and prayers.”

“May our Christmas reunions, with family or with old and new friends, be our own way of doing the visitation. May it all generate much joy as we come together and care for one another and celebrate God’s faithfulness in our lives. Amen.”

May we all find time to be still, to let go of noise, busyness, and distractions, to face ourselves and face our God, in silence so we may all feel the heavenly love and peace He promised. A blessed Christmas to all!

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com.