listening for the Silence in English

close your mouth for the length of a breath;
listen to the spaces between the air;
breathe in the surrounding sound;
relish it like prime rib expertly cooked;
rest your eyes till darkness becomes your friend;
sit shrewdly, noiseless, like a fox poised for prey;
then spring still while the wind floats by
and you are lost in the bowels of night
and every fiber of you is an open womb,
ready, receiving, when the light walks in;
then breathe as if air was something new ,
a fragrance never known, expected, brewed
like Maxwell House that warms your palms;
quietly, quietly, quietly become a sound unheard,
lively with the freshness of morning dew,
for the renewal of you, the silent, silent you.



The courage it takes to receive life even under the image of death-that is the courage of faith, the courage of gratefulness trust in the Giver.  When one approaches the altar to receive the Eucharistic bread and cup, this is an act of courage.  It is a gesture by which ones says, "I trust that I can live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, yes, even the word that spells death."  All that remains is to translate that act of faith into daily living.  And this is done through gratefulness.  Eucharist, after all, means "thanskgiving."  As we learn to give thanks for all of life and death, for all of this given world of ours, we find a deep joy.  It is the joy of courageous trust, the joy of faith in the faithfulness at the heart of all things.  It is the joy of gratefulness in touch with the fullness of life.
-Brother David Steindl-Rast.