Date: September 27, 2023
Quiet Day descends upon us. The idea is that between the two services complete silence is kept. You speak to no one. Lunch is taken in silence. You use it to commune with your own thoughts and to offer those thoughts to God.
Silence for six hours or so is hard. Many of us will sneak a conversation; others will play music; others might take a device and visit Instagram. But if you can achieve the discipline, then you will find a gift. It is the mystics of our tradition that teach us that the presence of God is made most manifest in the silence.
To those of you who are reading this commentary at the start of the day, I really invite you to live into this reality. Others will speak to you and I invite you to say: “Please forgive me, but I am observing Quiet Day: look at the commentary.” Perhaps avoid company. Sit near the Icon; sit in the Oratory; go for a walk. Let God use this day for God’s work.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary