Barefoot Praying

Silence is in short supply these days.   Finding it usually requires some effort.  It must have been much the same with Jesus.  As we read the gospels we read about his journeys into the wilderness, or up some mountain, or to some place not frequented by the clamoring demanding crowds.  In the middle of the 1st chapter of the book of Mark we hear the Word of God describing one such moment.  "In the morning, while it was very dark, He got up and went out to a deserted place and there He prayed."  (Mark 1:35)  His time into the silence was interrupted by Simon Peter and the others who went hunting for Him.

 

Walking into the silence is difficult for most of us and when we do find ourselves overwhelmed by it, there is always someone to call us back to what they would speak of as a more sensible way to live.  It does not require a serious moment of paying attention to know that silence is not really tolerated or desired by the vast majority of those who walk through this life with us.  If we follow the dictates of our culture, silence is something which must be filled.  To be in a place empty of some kind of noise is to be in a frightening place.  We might hear a Voice that is normally drowned out by the clutter of noise around us.

 

Interestingly enough, Jesus sought silence.  He sought the silence because He surely must have known that it was the place inhabited by the Father's presence and the place where the Father's Voice could be heard.  Those who say that God does not speak in these days probably do not inhabit the silence.  They likely avoid it.  Even in our praying, we shy away from the silence.  We fill our praying with our words.  If we prayed in such a way as to experience nothing but the silence, we might be overwhelmed by such a certain sense of holy presence that we would be praying without shoes.