Book Review: The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass

Subtitle: A Guide for Encountering Christ in the Liturgy. Please note that I purchased this book at Eighth Day Books in Wichita, Kansas. From the publisher, Sophia Institute Press:

In this game-changing book, Fr. Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., reveals how you can actively listen and open yourself to receive God’s personal love for you in the Mass, where our Lord waits to quench your deepest longing and heal your wounds. Drawing from the wisdom of the saints, modern-day spiritual giants, and his own penetrating reflections, you will learn how to quiet your mind, stretch your heart, and become childlike in the sense of experiencing the sacred mysteries with wonder and awe.

The Mass, as most Catholics are aware, consists of words and gestures through which the Church worships the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. But as far fewer Catholics know, the periods of silence are more than pauses or empty spaces, as Fr. Hicks explains. They are beautifully textured with prescribed prayers spoken quietly by the priest, meaningful images such as incense and chalice veils, and expectant faith ready to surrender or receive from God in particular ways. Learning how to attune our hearts to these silences can greatly increase the fruitfulness of our reception of grace at Mass.

In these soul-enriching pages, you will explore the various textures of silence in general, the ways in which silence affects your interior life, and how silence can draw you into more intimate prayer. . . .

You may also read a preview on their website.

Contents:

Foreword by The Most Reverend Andrew Cozzens (the Chairman of the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress)

Introduction

1. Silence in Prayer

    Prescriptions for Silence in the Roman Rite

        The Secret Prayers of the Priest

    Learning Silence in Prayer

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing Silence in Prayer

(Each chapter ends with some reflection questions)

Father Boniface identifies five kinds of silence: Ascetical, Mystical, Sacrificial, Contemplative, and Eternal; Father Hicks treats each one in chapters following the sequences of the celebration of the Holy Mass:

2. Preparing for Mass (Ascetical)

    Images for reducing distractions

        Making room for God within us

        Stretching open

        Settling a snow globe

    Images for vulnerability

        Becoming a child

        Remembering whom we are meeting

        Entering another world

    Learning ascetical silence

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing ascetical silence

3. Encountering the Word (Mystical)

    Awe and wonder

    A pure heart sees God

        Pure heart and lips to proclaim the Gospel

        The cleansing power of the Word

    Entering the silence of God

    Learning mystical silence

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing mystical silence

4. The Silence of Offering (Sacrificial)

    Candles and Cut Flowers

        Candles

        Cut flowers (vs. potted plants)

    Our humanity becomes divinity

    The Fiery Furnace of the Altar

    Incense: Wounds Become Worship

    A Purer Offering

    The Eucharistic Prayer

    Learning sacrificial silence

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing sacrificial silence

5. Silence of Adoration and Communion (Contemplative)

    Communion with the Risen Body and the Whole Church

    His Body and Blood set us free

    Finding refuge in Christ's Body and Blood

    Our Guardian for eternal life

    Learning contemplative silence

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing contemplative silence

6. Savoring in Silence (Eternal)

    Purification of the vessels includes our hearts

    Maronite farewell to the altar

    Thanksgiving after Mass

    Learning eternal silence

        Mary's Example

        Learning from St. Benedict

        Practicing the silence of savoring

Conclusion

Bibliography

As you can see from the outline this is a very systematic and schematic book but it's not an artificial organization at all. It flows from the pairing up of the forms of silence with the sequence of the Holy Mass. Thus we do need to prepare ourselves for Mass by detaching ourselves from earthly things as we enter a heavenly celebration. Then we can listen to the readings and the prayers with awe and wonder. 

In Chapter 4, Father Boniface provides some great guidance for the laity during the Offertory, the Preparation of Bread and Wine, and the Presentation of Gifts. His emphasis on the symbolism of cut flowers rather than potted plants or flowers at the Altar and in the Sanctuary is important: they are sacrificial as their beauty will die without their roots; they are costly and must be attended to by the sacristans as offerings. He gave me a deeper insight into the use of incense during the Mass (at the beginning, before the priest proclaims the Gospel, during the Offertory, including the incensation of the congregation, and during the Canon of the Mass as priest elevates the Body and the Blood of Christ after the Consecration). I've always thought of the raising of my prayers like incense before the Altar, but Hicks comments on how the incense, formed from the sap of "a wounded tree" represent our wounds and sins healed by Christ, the burning coal: "the furnace of God's consuming love"!

As I was reading this in late Advent in the Adoration Chapel in my parish church it made me think of Saint Robert Southwell's "The Burning Babe"!

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

And of course, the time after the laity has received Holy Communion needs to provide a period of silence, Eucharistic hymns notwithstanding. And remaining in silence after Mass for further mediation is important, rather than rushing out to the parking lot or starting long conversations in the pews while others are still praying . . .

In chapter six, Father Boniface comments on the Maronite Rite Prayer Bidding Farewell to the Altar, prayed by the priest after Mass. Throughout the book he also makes some comparisons between the Traditional Latin Mass rubrics, prayers, and silences (Missal of 1962 and before) and those in the Novus Ordo Mass (Missal of 1970). Often he, to this reader, has to stretch to approve some of the changes made and the options in the Novus Ordo that make periods of silence shorter or non-existent. Yes, he demonstrates that there should be silence during the celebration of the current Roman Rite, but he has to acknowledge that there is more room for abuse of these rubrics. Priests reading this book might be moved to emphasize those silences as they celebrate Mass; laity reading the book might be moved to request more silence during Mass.

The works cited and bibliography includes sources by authors one would expect in such a book: Romano Guardini, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Francis, Rudolf Otto, Cardinal Sarah,and of course Saint Benedict of Nursia, etc. There are also some other interesting choices: the Catholic Psychiatrist Conrad W. Baars (1919-1981), Born Only Once: The Miracle of Affirmation; James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones; Judith E. Glaser (1946-2018), Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results, and others.

I found the book, perhaps not "game-changing", but insightful and helpful to my actual participation and reception of the mysteries at Holy Mass, which I try to attend as often as possible.