“My house is a house of prayer.”
This is a wonderful thought, but is it practical for our modern ears to hear? There is so much chatter that fills these sacred walls before and after Mass. This chatter fills not only seconds, but minutes which at times can transcend into hours.
Again it was Christ who said: “My house is a house of prayer.”
Outside of the walls of this church I know that it is a fact to say that every inch of our life is filled with noise. That is what should be liberating about entering into this sacred space. Whenever we enter in we leave the world behind in order to come into an encounter with the divine. To think of the great gift that we encounter here for we encounter Christ our Lord present with us in the Eucharist. To think that the light of the sanctuary lamp signals to us the presence of Christ who is currently in our midst not in symbol, but in all actuality.
Christ calms our fears and instructs us from the midst of the noise of this world: “My house is a house of prayer.”
How many souls would be won for the Lord if we in return could trust in these words? If I were a visitor to this parish I would be blown away not by the noise that fills it, but by silence because silence is the direct opposite of what I encounter in my daily life. Silence would force me to reflect that something special is taking place in this sacred space. When I attended college seminary I am pretty sure that you could hear a pin drop in the basilica for this was a place of prayer. Out of the noise of everyday life I would go to the basilica to pray and be with the Lord. This was a retreat from everyday life.
Again, “My house is a house of prayer.”
As Cardinal Sarah properly pointed out in his book “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise:” “How I would love it if pastors and the faithful would enter joyfully into this silence that is full of sacred reverence and love for the ineffable God. How I would love it if churches were houses in which the great silence prevails that announces and reveals the adored presence of God.”
Therefore, my brothers and sisters in Christ may this sacred space remain always a house of prayer that welcomes us in and centers our mind, heart, and soul upon Christ our Lord who dwells in this sacred space. From the encounter with this silence we will come to encounter God for “my house is a house of prayer.”
