Keeping Silence
A respite for the mind
FWIW: I’m culturally Catholic.
I’m a cafeteria Catholic.
I’m the one who sticks around hoping the church will progress.
A lot of my beliefs are in direct contrast to church teaching… mainly my being pro-choice. Which I also call pro-life… pro the woman’s life.
But I digress.
I find church teaching on silence to be of immense value.
In particular… on my art.
There is a long history of keeping silence, in particular in the cloistered monastics… the ones who do not come out into the world. (In contrast to active orders which include those who teach, take care of the sick, etc.)
Many of you know about my sojourns to Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, VA.
I stay for one week and keep silence.
I chant with the monks five times a day starting at 3:30 a.m.
When I first started going, I’d get up and go to Vigils, the 3:30a chant, and them go back to my room and sleep until Lauds at 7 a.m.
By the last times I was there, I would go to Vigils and then meditate until Lauds.
The first time I did it… it stunned me.
That I could keep mental, focused silence for so long.
I haven’t been able to get back since before the pandemic.
No car, so it’s hard getting up there.
I really need a week there.
I need silence: physical, environmental, mental, emotional.
After the pandemic and Adler… I know I have a lot to process and processing in silence would be tremendous.
I recently had an epiphany.
I needed to find a place of silence in DC.
Believe it or not, churches can actually be noisy for places of silence.
Culturally Catholic… I headed to the Basilica in NE.
Its full name is: The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Fun fact: The shrine is the largest Catholic church building in North America, and one of the largest in the world.
I knew I’d find silence there.
When I go to the Abbey it takes about a day and a half to two days for my mind to fully slow down enough to actually experience the silence.
Would I be able to quiet my constantly racing mind at the Basilica?
There are more than 80 chapels within the Basilica.
Surely I could find silence in one of them.
The first chapel I found was near a spot where the security guards seemed to dish.
Nixed.
The second chapel had too many people going through.
Nixed.
I needed to find a chapel that was out of the way, had no throughway… was quiet.
After searching for a while I found it.
I didn’t want to be seen.
It had a nook.
There’s a fountain outside.
The sounds of water calms me.
No throughway.
It was perfect.
I set up shop.
Meditation time.
Mind started off racing; but it eventually calmed down.
Maybe it was the water?
I let my mind go blank, letting go of thoughts as they drifted through. Observing them without judgment.
Peace.
I found my place of silence a metro-ride away.
I still need a week at the Abbey.
But a day of silence worked.
Three days after I was there, I started writing blog posts.
After being a dry well, topics began to flow.
I felt inspired.
It will be a weekly pilgrimage for me.
This time I’ll take my laptop and write while I’m there.
I’ll make a beeline for my chapel.
Because silence awaits.
