Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Parish issued the following announcement on Aug. 9

Be still and know that I am God. Silence is sacred. Silence speaks the language of the soul and is the foundation of all life and eternity itself. Silence takes us beyond the limits of our minds and allows us to seek and to love the essence of all love, perfect love, and being. In silence, we can be nonverbally present to things and to God in ways that words cannot accomplish. We can discover, encounter, and be present to truths that our minds struggle to conceive and then set aside the boxes we put around things when comprehending them is challenging. We can know the unknowable and touch eternity when we encounter the core silence in our souls.

We can do this even on a noisy street and in the midst of the greatest distraction. Once we have made friends with silence, the rambling noise of the world no longer seems to matter, and we can carry a deep forgiving peace within us, even when physical silence cannot be found. We know that we are loved, cared for, sustained, nourished, embraced, and carried. There is nothing to fear in silence, and I can be present to myself in the same way that God is present to me. I can see myself as God sees me. All of my faults, weaknesses, imperfections, failings, and sinfulness melt away in the abundance of God’s mercy. All of the worldly things we see as being important no longer are.

It is in silence that all of the barriers that divide us disappear. There is no more “yours” and “mine” but only the oneness of “ours.” There is no longer a need to “figure things out,” and we tap into our desire to simply let things be. Silence is creative and powerful and gives us hope. Silence is God’s greatest blessing. God became one with humanity in silence. It allows us to be one with all of creation, with the moon and the stars and all of the creatures God has made. The smallest particle of creation radiates with beauty. Silence allows us to soar beyond ourselves and connect in ways that the mind can only imagine. When all is quiet, we begin to see that it is only our fear that keeps us from the Lord. It is our fear that causes us to sink and to fail. We can hear the gentle whisper that tells us to reach for God’s hand. We discover that we yearn for the salvation and wholeness that only God can give to us. Be still my soul and be at peace.

Original source can be found here.