Finding Stillness in a Noisy World: A Reflection for Lent

Listen carefully to the master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart.

Rule of Benedict, Prologue

noise. noISE. NOISE. The ceaseless clatter of our modern world often threatens to overwhelm us. The cacophony and rush of our daily lives, framed by shrieking news cycles and never-ending social media commentary and imagery, play around us like a strobe light, crowding out time for stillness, reflection, and understanding. It is easy to forget what silence and solitude look or feel like. It is easy to forget why we sometimes need to pause to look inside and listen inside.   

And then there is Lent.  

I fear that Lent has long suffered from bad branding, led by the question, “what are you giving up?” While fasting of some kind is certainly an important part of our Lenten journey, by itself it suggests little more than enduring or grinding out the 40-day period. It misses the larger point that, when combined with the other two themes of Lent – prayer and acts of charity and love – this time of year calls us to look inward to live more fully outward.    Lent challenges us not to step out but to step up. To listen carefully to the needs of those whose voices are too often lost in the din of the noise around us. To listen carefully for the presence of God. To hear God in the shadows and whispers of our lives. Lent does not call us to step away but to draw closer.   

As Lent guides us toward Easter, we can look to the Rule of Benedict for inspiration: It is high time for us to arise from sleep. Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven [to] run while you have the light of life (RB Prologue). We practice Lent inwardly through reflection, prayer, and personal conversion. But we live Lent outwardly in the ways we connect with each other and the world around us. Like a carefully tended flower, we bloom, and others with us. 

It is no small irony that this marvelous season of reflection and renewal – expressed through prayer, fasting, and charity – concludes with the joyous, and decidedly loud, celebration of Easter. Reflection and renewal seed new hope and great joy.

I wish our entire Prep community the blessings and hope of the Easter grace that awaits!  

JonMcGee
Head of School