Silence

 Silence 

Leading up to and during my pilgrimage, the one thing I wanted focusing my energy in was silencing my heart. About three weeks before the pilgrimage my life felt overwhelming with homework, family issues, track, scholarship deadlines mounting and new ones opening my attention was all over the place. With my attention everywhere my composure was spread so thin a droplet of water falling on it could break it like a pin poking an overly inflated balloon. That’s exactly what happened and when it did silence served as my comfort, in silence I found God’s voice a little easier to hear. So it made since to me to make that my motto for my pilgrimage, silence. 

Each Basilica we visited was grandiose, was of glory fitting for a king but with the respect deserved to God. But in each one we visited we had time to experience the Basilica and to reflect. The first thing I would always do was play the tourist walking around the Basilica experience and being mesmerized by it. The second thing I would do was look for the quite, barren, rather honestly simple chapel/area to reflect. In that time of reflection I felt that I witnessed the hand of God personally. In the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls to the far right and left are dark hallways where the light barley shines and in the farthest right one marble statues of Saints and Apostles stood tall. I figured this would be a nice spot to reflect and to be silent so that is what I did. In that time my vision was pulled to a statue of St. Thomas a smiling man holding wood in one hand and the other reaching down as if to offer help up to level he was on. I sat in complete silence my mind did not stray from the statue, my heart seemed not to beat, and my eyes did not shift an inch I was simply glued to that one statue. As I sat in stillness and silence I would swear I saw his open hand motion calling me, signaling to me to come closer. Then did I feel the hand of God, then did I know only in true silence would I come to feel, see and know his will as closely as I did in that moment. And I did... To be continued.