The Healthy Spiritual Journey • April 2025 – Quiet Please – God is Talking

“Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” – attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

Two of my brothers and I travel to St. Louis in mid-October each year to refuel our spiritual tanks. The Jesuit White House Retreat Center is located there, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Beginning on Monday after lunch and ending on Thursday after lunch, we attend a silent retreat; each trying to discern what God has to say to us for these times. The Retreat Leader holds ten conferences, or lecture sessions, with a theme that is central to that particular retreat. Past themes include: Finding God in All Things, God’s Call, The Serenity Prayer, and You Are in the Presence of God. On the wall in the hallways of our sleeping quarters, you will find the simple message “Quiet Please – God is Talking.”

The acronym, ACTS, helps us to remember the different types of prayer: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. At lunch today, I was talking with a friend who is becoming a Deacon in the Roman Catholic faith. When I told him the title of this Healthy Spiritual Journey, he smiled and offered that, for many people, prayer is a one-way-street. We talk to God, but do not listen for God’s answer. After we have offered adoration, confession, thanksgiving, or supplication to God, he suggests that we should listen for God’s response, saying to ourselves “Quiet Please – God is Talking.”

We do need silence to encounter the Divine. St. Francis was an example of someone who preached God’s good news through his actions, learned in humble silence. Words were used only when necessary. There is a reason that the prophets, and even Jesus, went into the desert to have conversation with God. It seems that we spend a lot of time talking to God, but my guess is very little time, if any, listening for God’s response. God is a good listener, and we must learn to be good listeners too. There is a story from the Judeo-Christian Bible, found in the 19th Chapter of 1 Kings in which the prophet Elijah hears God speak from high upon a mountain. There was a great wind so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks into pieces, but God did not speak; after the wind, an earthquake, but God did not speak; after the earthquake, a fire, and still God did not speak; but after the fire, there was sheer silence. It was only then that the voice of God could be heard. Whether in the desert or upon a mountain top, silence is where God talks. So remember to be, “Quiet Please – God is Talking.”

Spring is in the air. Breathe in deeply. We might even take note of those deep breaths and be inspired by God as we inspire. Honor the Holy Ground that is under us and all that surrounds us. God is here in intimate, loving ways. Be open to God’s messages – maybe in the beauty that is blossoming all around. Springtime, with its abundant new life, gives us reminders to be aware of the many opportunities to live and love gratefully. God is ever-present, helping us to grow in divine ways. We just need to wait for those moments of sheer silence - as did Elijah - and remind ourselves “Quiet Please – God is Talking.”

In God’s love, 

Lanny F. Wilson, MD

“…and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. Then there came a voice to him…” 1 Kings 19:12c, 13c