Thomas Keating quotes John of the Cross: “Silence is God’s first language. Every thing else is a translation." From this premise, one might conclude than to find God, one must retreat into a hermitage, Once there, one can be silent 24/7. This attitude is easily reinforced by the 2nd reading for Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006. The last sentance - James 1:27 reads:
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
If pure religion requires being unstained by the world, perhaps the best course of action is to avoid the world entirely. This leads to the spiritual practice known as contemptus mundi – contempt for the world.
On his audio CD publisher Gregory Pierce replies that a spirituality of silence alone won’t help him. With a publishing company, a family, and little leaguers in his care, he needs a spirituality that helps him find God in the midst of noise.
A look at Sunday's gospel shows that the conflict is only an apparant one. From Mark 7:15-23 we read:
"..there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
…
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
The context of this passage has to do with ancient Jewish dietary laws. However, a moment's reflection leads us to the recognition that there are many things in the outside world what can “go into us” through our senses and perceptions. It is not the outside world that is that is a problem. It is our reaction to the outside world that is the problem. When we react from any of the list of evil thoughts listed, we will be “ .. stained by the world.”
The question then becomes; how do we move from a state in which we react out “evil thoughts” to one in which we can respond to the world out of grace?
