Monday Musings – Stop the Nonsense! Reinstate Reverent Silence in Our Churches Now! Our Lord Deserves Nothing Less!

It should trouble the hearts of all Catholics to see how we have lost the sense of the Sacred within our Church buildings, where for the most part we act as if our Lord is not really, substantially and physically present among us in our tabernacles and on our tongues. In far too many parishes, our Church’s have become nothing more than another social gathering space with the focus on those present rather than on the God to Whom our prayerful silence, reverence and worship is owed. 

What is even worst is how hurt our Lord is by our neglect and irreverence. But how many of us ever think of how He feels? Listen and feel His anguish and pain: 

“I remain unknown. I am left alone. Even those who claim to profess the mystery of my Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar forsake Me. I am treated with a terrible indifference, with coldness, and with a lack of respect that causes the angels to weep because they cannot offer Me reparation for the coldness and indifference of human hearts. Only men can make reparation for men. What is lacking is the loving response of a human heart to My Eucharistic Heart, pierced, alive and beating in the Sacrament of the Altar. Only a human heart can make reparation for a human heart. For this reason, the angels are sorrowful.”

 (The Soul of the Apostolate - Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O.)

Nothing in the documents of Vatican II directed parishes to move the tabernacles from the center of our Church sanctuaries. Nor did any of those documents direct the abandonment of reverent silence before, during and after Mass, Latin, Gregorian chant, kneelers, communion rails, reception of Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue, or Mass celebrated with the priest and congregation facing our Lord in the tabernacle. 

We have lost the sense of reverence, sacredness and silence. Our every action while in Church should reflect to all those present that we actually believe that Jesus Christ is really, substantially and physically present in the tabernacles of our Churches and in the Sacred Host which we consume. Nothing that is inconsistent with this fundamental Truth can be tolerated or permitted.

This lack of reverent silence and belief in our ever-present Eucharistic Lord is the greatest crisis facing our Church. It must end in every parish where it exists!

We must speak up! Our priests and bishops must return to basics and instruct us as to the appropriate manner in which we are to act when in the Presence of God and in His House. Thank God for those who have done so. More must. 

With his permission, I would like to share an excerpt from Father Darr Schoenhofen’s January 1, 2019 homily as he addressed this pressing issue with his flock:

“… when we are in the presence of this unique kind of Christ's presence in the Blessed Sacrament, either on the altar or reserved in the tabernacle, we should maintain a proper silence. Talking in church should be limited to brief greetings, spoken in a hushed voice. Although there are obvious exceptions to this rule, exceptions pertaining to the conduct of practical matters in the service of church life — for example, the need to talk during choir and wedding rehearsals, liturgical training sessions, when cleaning in the church with other workers, and so on — in general carrying on conversations in church as one would in other places is very disrespectful and irreverent, and such behavior saddens the Lord and his Mother greatly (my emphasis). The real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament reserved in a Catholic church is itself a call from heaven to behave there as the angels behave in the presence of the holiest of holies — and, to be sure, angels are invisibly present, adoring the Blessed Sacrament unceasingly, in every Catholic church. Mary, for this reason, wants us to practice reverent silence at all times when we are in church, after Mass as well as before, and to come there, the sacred house of God, to adore and worship her Son truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Let all mortal flesh keep a reverent silence before the Blessed Sacrament as do the angels! By this reverent silence we dispose ourselves to receive the graces the Lord wishes to bestow upon us during our time in church, his house of prayer.”

I believe, as did St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P., that we cannot be timid when addressing problems in our Church and the lukewarm manner in which many of us live out our faith. St. Vincent was direct and confronted people with the Truth since it is only the Truth that will set hearts and souls free. 

There should be absolutely no unnecessary talking in Church. Ever! What talking that does occurs must be in whispered soft voices and for the briefest of time. This is not subject to debate. This is the Truth which we have been too often unwilling or fearful to teach to those many Catholics who don’t know it, have been misled or who have lost their Faith. 

This irreverence and lack of sacred silence is not of God. As James Monti noted in his recent column entitled Reverence as A Way of Life In Church and Beyond: “Satan is the father of irreverence. He hates the sacred, and so he seeks to hurl against the sacred all that can desecrate it. Art that makes the human face and form hideous, music that make life and love ugly, immodest clothing that blaspheme against the Temple of the Holy Spirit, architecture that makes man crawl on his belly rather than raise his eyes to Heaven all suit Satan’s purposes quite well.” (The Wanderer, March 21, 2019).

To violate the sacred silence and reverence owed our Lord is a big deal. As uncomfortable as this may make many of us feel, it is a sin. It is an offense to God and neighbor.  Listen to Dan Burke here as He explains why. 

Thank God for Father Darr, Dan, and the army of unsung and unknown pastors whose Churches are filled with sacred reverent silence. They have done what so many others have been unwilling or fearful to do – speak and share the Truth – not for their own benefit (I suspect many have been or will be criticized for doing so) but for the Glory of God and in reparation for the profane manner so many of us have treated Him.

Now is the time, as Father Schoenhofen urged us, “to keep a reverent silence before the Blessed Sacrament as do the angels”. 

Now is the time to adore, love and worship God as we ought and as He deserves!