Standing in Silence on Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday, Voice of the Faithful sponsored silent prayer vigils across the country -partially a protest against all the man-made (and I use the word "man" advisedly) evils in the church and partially in prayer for those same men, that they feel the pull of the Holy Spirit and the support of the laity and set about creating a just church.

So I went and stood outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Part of me wondered if it served any purpose. After all, I could have been at church with the people who might, one fine day, be my spiritual community. And besides, didn't we get in this fix in the first place by standing in silence in the face of evil?

But, in some ways Lent is about the silence that calls us to conversion. Heaven knows, I need it as much as the church. You can't listen if you're talking. So I stood there, listening and praying and witnessing, as far as I am capable, to the possibility of conversion. The long-suffering spouse went to church, for the very same reasons. All I can figure is that there are many ways to accomplish the same thing; we can only walk our own path.

I'll spend much of this week in church with my little proto-community. I suppose that's a witness to the power of possibility, too.

Tags: Catholicism social justice