Taking time for silence

 One of the most powerful prayer practices we can do is silence.  Have you ever considered why well led liturgy has moments of intended silence.  Consider the opening prayer a priest prays at Mass or any worship leader intends when he says: Let us pray.  The silence that follows is intentional.  It is a moment to quiet our minds and hear the voice of God, the source of authentic desires rather than desires prompted by the many voices in our head   In the silence God speaks and we discover what grace we need.  Take a moment and ponder the poem written by the mystic and theologian Howard Thurman (1899–1981) who invites us to make time,  for silence, to “centre down”:  

How good it is to center down!  
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by! 
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic; 
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,  
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still  
    moment and the resting lull.… 
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives?— 
    what are the motives that order our days?  
What is the end of our doings? Where are we trying to go?… 
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.  
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes  
    of our turbulence, there is a sound of another kind— 
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart  
    makes clear.  
It moves directly to the core of our being. Our questions are  
    answered,  
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of  
    our daily round 
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.  
How good it is to center down! [1]