by Fr. Herb Weber

I looked at David, my Navajo guide, and noted, “Listen to the silence.”

He said nothing but seemed to be asking what else I might have expected. This was the second or third time that morning I had commented on the silence.

We were deep in the Canyon del Muerto, the northern canyon of the National Park known as Canyon de Chelly. David was about my age and had lived in the canyon as a child. For him, the silence must have been normal. But for me, it was something I had not experienced for a long time…if ever. No ambient noise at all, no birds, no wind, and certainly no cars, planes or human voices.

The silence was not eerie or unearthly. In fact, it wrapped itself around me like a gentle blanket. As much as I later enjoyed the caw of the raven or the spring water rushing over the rocks of the wash, the silence was more inviting. Contrary to everything I would have expected, it made me feel alive!

“I will come to you in the silence.”

Song,‘You Are Mine’ by David Haas