RB: Prologue 8-13
Mass: Dt 4:1-2, 6-8; Resp Ps 15; Jm 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Be doers of the word and not hearers only. (Jm 1:22)
There is a line left out of today's reading from the Letter of St James that precedes, and for me, presupposes the one under our friend, the alert seagull, above: 'Everyone should be quick to hear and slow to speak' (Jm 1:19). Ah...'quick to hear', writes James, and 'slow to speak'. May we take St James words to heart, and the words of St Benedict too: 'Let our ears be alert to the stirring voice crying out to us every day: If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts (Ps 94[95]:8' (RB Prologue 9-10). Before we do or say anything, we must hear; we must listen with the ear of our hearts. Sometimes the best way of doing or saying anything is remaining silent.
Silence enables listening and good words; silence is the womb for the word.
(Sr Aquinata Böckmann, OSB)
When it's our turn to live through a difficult situation, sometimes it happens that silence is not a virtuous act but is the only option, one imposed by circumstances.
(Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Silence and Word)
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