 (The best homily today, Good Friday, is a silent homily. Let the Cross speak! Forgive me, Lord, for speaking, but I feel obliged to speak of silence, of the silence I long for)
On Good Friday, we commemorate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. We contemplate in silence the Crucified Lord. Between the death of the Crucified Lord and his resurrection we are invited to listen to the sounds of silence coming from the naked Cross.
Word and silence are two ways of speaking. We need silence not to drown in words. We need silence to speak the saving word. We need silence, to empty our hearts of selfishness and be able to listen to others, to listen to God: “I hold myself in quiet and silence, like a little child in his mother’s arms, like a little child, so I keep myself†(Ps 131:2).
Good silence is contemplative silence: the silence of creation, the silence of the cross of Jesus. It is like the silence of Mary, who kept all the things happening around Jesus in her heart (Lk 2:51): in her, “all was space for the Beloved and silence to listen†(Bruno Forte). Like the silence of Joseph who, feeling the hand of God, accepts silently the motherhood of Mary and the mysterious life of Jesus (cf. Mt 1:24). Like the silence of Jesus during his public life, a silence that underlined his words, a silence the saints learned from him. We are taught by the saints to cultivate silence in our life, to appreciate the silent love of the mystics, the pregnant silence of St. Thomas Aquinas after his mystical experience on December 6, 1273; after this, no more words, no more writings – total silence! St. John of the Cross speaks of the silent contemplation of his Beloved without the noise of voices: the tranquil night, / silent music, / sounding solitude, / the supper that refreshes and deepens love (CB 14-15). Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta asked her sisters to practice first the virtue of kindness and second the virtue of silence, a silence she witnessed also by smiling – to conceal her great inner sufferings.
“The Church – all of us – must discover the power of silence†(Cardinal Luis Antonio de Tagle). The liturgy speaks of a sacred silence to allow “the voice of the Holy Spirit to be heard more fully in our hearts.â€
Good Friday! Jesus on the Cross is silent: his serene silence to the many questions of Herod; his calm silence to the cry of the people, “Crucify him! Crucify him!†his humble silence while he is horribly scourged at the pillar. Jesus is patiently silent through his whole passion – at times he pronounces a few words that dramatize his talking silence. Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh “never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before the shearers, he never opened his mouth†(Is 53:7).
Jesus on the Cross faced also the silence of God. From the Cross, Jesus asked his Father: “Why have you abandoned me?†God’s answer was: silence. The silence of God, the mysterious silence of God yesterday and today in the midst of darkness, of desolation, of deadly natural calamities, of war… Why this silence, God? Where are you when we hurt terribly? Why do you allow so much evil in the world? Benedict XVI asked in his visit to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenaw: Why the Holocaust? Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?†(May 28, 2006). I ask you, my dear God: “Why did you allow the terrible crucifixion of your Son†– of your Son? St. Dominic’s favorite book is the book of charity, that is, God’s love revealed in the cross – in the silent cross.  Dear God, “May we not forget that you also talk when you keep silent… In your silence as well as in your word, you are always the same Father, the same paternal and maternal heart, and you guide us with your love and elevate us with your silence†(S. Kierkegaard).
 “Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness†(from an Ancient Homily), the strange silence of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It is the silence of the naked Cross, of the hopeful Cross of Christ! Our silence before the Cross of Christ is indeed the hopeful silence that is directed to Easter: from the loud silence of Jesus’ death to the sounding joy of his resurrection.
With St. Bernard we pray to the Lord: “There is in your adorable Passion, Lord, a word that moves me and speaks like no other word. It is the word you have not uttered, the word of your silence. When, Lord, when will I learn your silence, and when will I know that You, only You justify and condemn? When, my Jesus, will I learn to keep quiet, to talk little with men and much with You? When shall I imitate your silence – humble, patient, adorable silence? Oh silent Jesus, give me the holy virtue of your silence!â€
Fausto Gomez, O. P.
St. Dominic’s Priory, March 2013