There is an indifferent, or even negative, attitude toward silence which sees in it a disparagement of God's revelation in the Word. This is the view which misinterprets silence as a ceremonial gesture, as a mystical desire to get beyond the Word. This is to miss the essential relationship of silence to the Word.
Silence is the simple stillness of the individual under the Word of God.We are silent after hearing the Word because the Word is still speaking and dwelling within us. We are silent at the beginning of the day becaue God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep because the last word also belongs to God.Silence is nothing else but waiting for God's Word and coming from God's Word with a blessing.
Life Together* by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 79
{published in 1954, a well-loved, dog-eared book that belonged to my mother}
