Tag Archives: Catholicism

Silence is Golden

Leave a reply

Most of my life I have viewed Quakerism as quite strange. The notion of a service consisting almost entirely of sitting quietly just didn’t make any sense. “That’s just silly” I would have wanted to say. “Say something!” But now a significant portion of my weekly worship is spent in silent meditation and I see so clearly the significance of silence. Silence is necessary from time to time to give our “monkey mind” a rest, to follow the advice of the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God.” There is some fear that this “literarylew” thing I got going on is largely chatter and that one of these days God is going to “Todd Akin” me and just “shut this whole thing down.” I understand that the great Catholic theological Thomas Aquinas had a profound mystical experience in his early fifties and, after written many basic theological treatises of the Catholic faith, never wrote another thing the rest of his life. “It is all straw,” he supposedly said.

And the notion of silence in spirituality is very Indian. And the Quaker about whom I blogged this morning, Thomas Kelly, noted that he had consulted with Hindu spiritual teachers and had studied the teachings of the Vedas. That must have been a daring move for a Quaker in 1931 for I think of Quakers as a very conservative variant of the Christian faith and conservatives Christians look askance at Indian spirituality.

I have been drawn to the wisdom of Gerard Manley Hopkins on the subject of silence long before I had any reason to know why. In the poem, “The Habit of Perfection” he declares that only when we “shut up” and embrace silence can we acquire eloquence:

ELECTED Silence, sing to me
And beat upon my whorlèd ear,
Pipe me to pastures still and be
The music that I care to hear.

Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb: 5
It is the shut, the curfew sent
From there where all surrenders come
Which only makes you eloquent.

Be shellèd, eyes, with double dark
And find the uncreated light: 10
This ruck and reel which you remark
Coils, keeps, and teases simple sight.

Palate, the hutch of tasty lust,
Desire not to be rinsed with wine:
The can must be so sweet, the crust 15
So fresh that come in fasts divine!

Nostrils, your careless breath that spend
Upon the stir and keep of pride,
What relish shall the censers send
Along the sanctuary side! 20

O feel-of-primrose hands, O feet
That want the yield of plushy sward,
But you shall walk the golden street
And you unhouse and house the Lord.

And, Poverty, be thou the bride 25
And now the marriage feast begun,
And lily-coloured clothes provide
Your spouse not laboured-at nor spun.

My Anti-Catholic Indoctrination

2 Replies

 

I was raised in a very conservative, Southern, poverty-stricken, family and grew up in the fifties and the sixties. There is so much to say about that culture and one of these days I hope to try to say it. But at this moment I merely want to concentrate on one bit of lunacy that I was subjected to—anti-Catholic rhetoric. Of course this was nothing new; this had historical roots from early in American history and in continues even today in pockets of conservative America.

I’ve long since out-grown that provincial ignorance and view the Catholic faith with great respect. In fact, I am now an Episcopalian, which is sometimes known as “Catholic lite.” And I stumble upon treasure troves of Catholic wisdom here in the blog-o-sphere, one of which is “Blue Eyed Ennis” (http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.com/) She offers a wealth of spiritual resources from the Catholic faith (and other faiths) many of which I would not be familiar with otherwise.

As I revel in the wisdom I find there, I am so grateful that I was able to escape the imprisonment of my impoverished, hyper-conservative childhood. And I speculate about why it was necessary for the Catholics to be singled out for such opprobrium. I know that one part of the picture is simple projection. In any group of people, just as with individuals, it is necessary to project on others unsavory dimensions of their own psyche. It is necessary to demonize someone. And Catholics were merely one of the available resources that my community had to offer. It is as if, and I emphasize “as if”, my sub-culture convened and said, “Now, we have lots of ugliness inside and we can’t handle it so we must blame it on someone.” And after some discussion, Catholics were selected as one of several nominees and this was simple because of the historical roots of this sentiment. So, therefore I was so troubled and even angry that Catholics were not Christian, that they worshipped the Pope…and even Mary!…and that if John Kennedy was elected President the Pope would be taking over control of our country!