Let us consider, “What is silence?” Silence is the opposite of noise which is evident in today’s technical world. Loud speech or music causes that people often do not hear each other and gradually lose their hearing. Even further, whereas noise significantly affects the human psyche, often causing fatigue, depression, bad mood, aggressiveness, reluctance, as well as memory impairment, loss of attention, overall decreased performance, and insomnia. It also causes cardiovascular disease and reduces immunity. Researches prove that noise significantly causes an increase in the incidence of diseases of civilization. High decibels deafen the silent whisper of God’s voice in the interior of every human being.
Merely in the sacred silence, the tender voice of God which talks to us, could be heard. In the silence of the night St. Joseph knew God’s plan with him. He shall be a head of the Holy Family of God’s Son, Jesus and His Mother Mary.
Sacred silence is a daily need of every Christian. Oases of silence and peace offer space for reflection. For those who withdrew there, their tension and unrest are calmed, many questions and worries are answered, and joy and peace are flowing from it. This silence is not an empty bubble. It is a space filled with God’s presence. There, God talks to the soul. Therefore, the silence has several successive steps: listening, reflecting and acting.
Pope Benedict XVI in his homily on Christmas, in 2005, said that St Joseph’s silence does not express an inner emptiness but, on the contrary, the fullness of the faith he bears in his heart and which guides his every thought and action. It is a silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, watches over the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, continuously comparing it with the events of the life of Jesus; a silence woven of constant prayer, a prayer of blessing of the Lord, of the adoration of His holy will and of unreserved entrustment to His providence.