Friday, April 10, 2020

THE CLOUD OF SILENCE


Meditation on Good Friday
(Jn 18:1-40, 19-42)
“Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus, ‘Where do you come from?’ But Jesus made no answer” 


The Good Friday liturgy is unique and beautiful. The priest, vested in red, solemnly processes to the altar in silence, no song, no acclamation! The altar is laid bare, striped of decorations and light. The priest lowers himself and gently lay down in front of the altar. The whole church is wrapped in silence! Within this cloud of silence, the Church narrates the Passion of Jesus and offers her prayers.

We are drawn to this cloud of silence, which surrounded Jesus throughout His passion. Imagine the serenity in the garden as Jesus communed with the Father in prayer before the noise of Judas and the soldiers interrupted...Jesus was calm and spoke with confidence, and with authority! Looking at the length of the trials, and at different ends of the city with different rulers, we wonder why only few words of Jesus was recorded all through. The answer is simple: He was silent most of the time.

His silence was because, according to Fulton Sheen, Jesus accepted in freedom what was done to Him with malice. In other words, He freely gave Himself up into their treachery. So He remained free, while His executioners were restless and noisy. Thus the venom of their malice had no influence over Him; His mood and disposition remained intact...His love remained unshaken! But the Chief priest, Pilate and the Jews continued to judge each other and lose temper. Fear and tension continued to arise among them, while Jesus remained silent. Pilate was practically forcing words out of Jesus. His capacity as Governor was being questioned. This is one case history cannot forget.

Jesus offered no resistance. The full weight of the betrayal, denial, insults, beating and crucifixion landed on Him, and He did not return any. His silence was provocative as they struggled the more to satisfy their bitterness. In silence Jesus turned His attention to the Father—He looked up to Him who was able to save Him from death (Heb 5:7). His was not a snobbish silence; it was not a self-centred silence to prove His superiority. He entered into the cloud of silence, passive to His executioners, that He might actively offer up to the Father, in freedom, all the suffering He received for our salvation. Having offered all, “He said, ‘It is finished’; and bowing His head he gave up His spirit. Only the Sound of His Silence remained...

And that remains the echo of meditation and contemplation; the highest form of prayer is born. With this cloud of silence is the energy to imitate Jesus, especially at our moment of Cross. How can we carry our cross as Jesus did if we know no silence, and our hearts are noisy? When we have to confront family tussles, abuses, cheating, gossip, betrayals, setbacks, etc we too must enter the cloud of silence by actively connecting with the cross of Jesus, and locating our situation in Jesus’ passion. This is also how our disposition and love will remain intact, and inaccessible to our executioners!

As the altar is stripped bare, silence is the ornament that adorns this sacred space. Within this serenity we renew our love for the Cross, on which lay the Saviour of the world. After the Communion, the priest says the prayer and blessing over the people. Suddenly, without any formal dismissal, he processes out of the altar in silence, no hymns or acclamation...Like at Calvary, They all went sorrowfully away. But our silence will be broken by the crack sound of the opened tomb; the joy of the Resurrection.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Friday April 10th,2020.
Good Friday.


2 comments:

  1. Despite all the insults, denial, beating and crucifixion, he offered no resistance.......his love was intact!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amen! So it shall be to all who connect to the passion of Jesus at their moment of cross.

    ReplyDelete