The cardinal’s Lenten message: The noise pollution of modern society grows harsher every year. We are bombarded by noise from traffic, aircraft, office equipment, home appliances, TVs and cell-phone conversations. Oddly enough, we rarely seem to notice the increased noise because we have learned to live with it or just block it out. However, we pay a price for all of the increasing decibels in the modern age. In addition to the immediate danger of hearing loss due to long-term exposure to high levels of noise, we also suffer from an increase of stress and irritability from this overstimulation. Lent is the season of silence. It is a time to enter into the desert, as Jesus did for 40 days. Admittedly, silence can make us feel uneasy. Perhaps it is because silence forces us to think, to feel, to be in touch with those deep areas of our lives where a sense of emptiness or meaninglessness may be lurking in our hearts. Throughout the Gospels Jesus is portrayed as going off alone in silence to pray. The evangelists repeatedly recorded such retreats from the noise of the world not just to tell us something about Jesus, but also about those who followed him. They, too, discovered that silence takes us into the divine presence. Meister Eckhart, a 14th-century German Dominican, said it so well: “Nothing in all creation is so like God as silence.” This Lent I have asked our pastors to invite their communities to take extra time for silence during Mass, especially after Communion. In fact, the church recognizes the value of silence at certain moments of the Mass as a way of quietly absorbing the great mysteries we celebrate. Taking time for silence after Communion can be a special grace for each of us individually and for us as a worshipping community. We actively pray to God for our needs and raise our voices in songs of prayer. Yet, we need this silent time to allow God to speak to us. That means quieting ourselves even from saying prayers and just being aware of what Jesus tells us: we abide in God and God in us. I especially invite you to enter into silence during these 40 days, not as a place of fear, but as the place where you encounter the living God who wants to speak to you. Give yourself the gift of silence this Lent. You will discover what Eckhart did centuries ago: “Nothing in all of creation is so like God as silence.”