How Silence Led To Answered Prayers
Have you experienced the feeling of walking through the graces of answered prayers?
It’s a surreal feeling and one that up until recently, I don’t think I have presently felt. That doesn’t mean that only until now have any of my prayers been answered, but it does mean that just like in Luke 17:11-19 when Jesus healed ten lepers and only one returned to give thanks, I too have on countless occasions not given thanks to an answered prayer.
In a world with so much noise and many influencers spreading the message to do what we need to prioritise ourselves, it’s very easy to unconsciously become selfish in our thoughts. We may pray and mean well, but then forget to give thanks to our God who gives us all we need in this life and so much more.
As St. Gianna Molla said, “the secret of happiness is to live moment by moment and to thank God for what He is sending us every day in His goodness”. We all want happiness. We are all searching for it daily because that’s what our hearts were made for, the joy He wants for us.
About 7 years ago, I was invited to a retreat and had the opportunity to sit in Adoration, in silence and pray to Jesus. The prayers I said were not pre-written formal prayers I read out to Him. They were conversational prayers. Honestly speaking to Him from my heart, laying out all my worry-filled prayer petitions before Him.
I heard no reply.
Minutes laters, the discomfort of sitting in silence started. I often describe these moments these days to friends as a drop of oil being dropped into a tall glass of water. The water is my soul. The oil is the sin, woundedness and mess within my soul. As the drop of oil falls into the glass, cutting through the water’s surface, it sinks into the water momentarily. Within a second or two, it rises up to the surface and stays there.
This is what happens when we sit in silence. The junk of our soul, rises to the surface of the present moment and wants us to deal with it. It’s no wonder we feel distracted, discouraged and probably even want to cut our church visit short to exit the building.
This is why I wasn’t surprised when I first read Blaise Pascal’s quote, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone”. It’s because we struggle with allowing ourselves to be present to the present moment which requires silence and not the noise of this world.
After pushing through my own discomfort of sitting in the present moment, an hour in silence, before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, something amazing happened. The discomfort left and an extreme peace entered me. This peace poured and flooded into every part of my soul and flushed out all remaining granules of worry I had for the prayer petitions I gave to Jesus earlier. I had a new deep confidence that everything in my life is and always will be taken care of by Him. He would provide for it all.
Since that day, my life is new. I have realised that if I don’t include Him in my day, the noise drowns out all my ability to stay in the present, receive His graces and give thanks for them. If I don’t clean out the mess in my soul monthly with confession, attend mass regularly and make sure daily I have personal prayer time, it’s easy to listen to the noise of the world. But if I choose to nourish my soul and take care of it just as I take care of my body by eating each day, I will see His graces clearly without doubt.
Feeling the light and freeing weight of walking in the graces of answered prayers isn’t only reachable for a few. It’s there for everyone and it doesn’t take a big effort. He’s not asking for much. Just for you to honestly go before Him, sit presently in silence and lay it all before Him. He’s already waiting for you there.
