The writer and businessman, Leroy Brownlow said: “There are times when silence has the loudest voice.” Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the 46th World Communications Day of this year, issued on 24 January, feast of Saint Francis de Sales, which is themed ‘Silence and Word: Path of Evangelisation’, presents a proper appreciation of the virtue of silence.

This year’s message calls for a harmonious relationship between silence and words. The Holy Father speaks of the need that the “two aspects of communication… be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved”. The loss of either party brings “confusion” on the one hand and “an atmosphere of coldness” on the other. When taken as a whole, silence and words give a profound value and meaning to communication.

Unfortunately, we are too much accustomed and bombarded with words. Our spirit is craving for some vital space that only silence can provide. For the German Pontiff, among the many benefits which silence generously presents to us we observe that thanks to it “we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves”. Silence acts like a midwife in the art of speech in that “by remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself”. Furthermore, due to silence we distance ourselves from our own words and ideas and courageously submit them to their pertinent scrutiny. Objectively speaking, silence instills caring mutual listening and a deepen of human relationships.

Silence is impregnated with meaning specifically because it highly promotes non-verbal communication. Thus, the Pope notes that “it is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: Gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved”.

In this year’s message Benedict XVI stressed the stance that in order to combat the present existential confusion that is jeopardising our ways of thinking and acting, mainly because we have allowed the world of words impede us from going deeper into ourselves, the time has come to recuperate our innate capacity for reflecting. Hence, “silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyse messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds”.

Are we ready to engage ourselves in the art of listening to improve our intra-personal, inter-personal relationships and extra-personal relationships? Can we use critically and reflectively the means of social communication? Can the latter prepare us for a profound and holistic dialogue made up of words and silent reflection? Do we believe that silent reflection helps us reach the depths of our being and open us to God and one another?

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap