Voices
from Silence
|
|
|
Personal stories of engaging in silence by practitioners from the Global Majority Heritage (GMH) or Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour (BIPOC) communities.* |
A quarter of the way into the new millennium the reality for many people from this community is that their lives and stories are sidelined. Their voices are silenced.
Although many people from GMH/ BIPOC communities have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities have tended to write more about their experiences of silencing than of their engagement with silence-based prayer.
This new series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH/ BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources about silence on the Seeds of Silence website.
Although many people from GMH/ BIPOC communities have a spiritual practice of silence, authors from these communities have tended to write more about their experiences of silencing than of their engagement with silence-based prayer.
This new series is a way to bring some voices from the GMH/ BIPOC communities into the conversations and resources about silence on the Seeds of Silence website.
March, 2026: Fr. Clement Obiorah, OCD:
'TheProphetic Silence: Withdrawal For the World'
Image: Andrew Winkler, Nashville, TN, unsplash.com/@andrew_winkey
Father Clement Obiorah, OCD, Oxford, UK
|
Listen to Fr. Clement reading his text, 'The Prophetic Silence: Withdrawal For the World'
|
The Prophetic Silence: Withdrawal For the World
It is a persistent misconception that the contemplative life is a flight from reality, a pious escapism where the chaos of history is shut out by the cloister walls. However, the true spirit of Carmel is not a withdrawal from the world, but a withdrawal for the world. It is a movement that finds its archetype in the prophet Elijah, the ‘Father of Carmel’, whose life demonstrates that the most profound political and social action begins in the radical silence of standing before the Living God.
The experience of Elijah (1 Kings:17–19) provides the blueprint for this spirituality. We often recall Elijah for his fiery confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, a moment of great clamour and public vindication. Yet, the prophet’s journey does not end there. He is led into the desert, exhausted and disintegrated by the activism of justice and religious freedom. But God reveals Himself intimately, not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the qol demamah daqqah—the ‘sound of sheer silence’. This is precisely the movement intended for every soul, as echoed by the Prophet Hosea: '…I will woo her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there' (Hosea 2:14).
This silence is not an empty vacuum; it is a nurtured space. In the Carmelite tradition, silence is the intimate communication in Karm-el (the literal meaning of garden) where the soul is cultivated to receive the Word. This stance is the prerequisite for all prophetic witness to genuine liberation. The world is frantically chaotic, and for this very reason: if we do not silence our own agendas to listen, our word becomes an empty meaningless cloak for those agendas, bereft of life. Silence becomes truly empowering and effective only when it communicates, where words fail.
This ‘nurtured space’ or ‘sanctuary’ is dangerous to the status quo because it is the breeding ground of truth. St Teresa of Ávila, writing during the upheavals of the Reformation, declared: 'The world is in flames... This is no time to [en]treat with God for things of little importance.' Her contemplation was not a sedative; it was a strategy to align her will with the opportune Word of God, the specific, spirited word spoken for that precise moment in history. It is the same Word, the same Lover, and the same humanity, irrespective of the clutter of supremacy and advancement. St John of the Cross’s insight on this eternal communication is of staggering importance: 'The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul' (Sayings of Light and Love, 100).
We see this dynamic enfleshed in modern times by figures like St Titus Brandsma. A Dutch Carmelite and journalist, Brandsma did not hide in his cell while Nazism rose in Europe. Grounded in the deep silence of our order, he found the opportune Word of God to refuse to print Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers. His silence before God gave him the authoritative voice to speak truth to power, eventually leading to his martyrdom at Dachau. He proved that the mystic is often the most practical realist in the room.
For us today, the ‘Prophetic Silence’ is a mandate. We live in an era of ‘post-truth’ and cacophony, where words are often weaponised or wasted. To be a witness in such a time requires us to reclaim the Elijah dynamism. We must cultivate a silence that acts as a sieve, filtering out the noise, bias and cultural recidivism that impede our capacity to hear and speak the opportune Word of life.
Carmelite spirituality teaches us that to gaze upon the Living God is to see the world as He sees it: broken, yet beloved and in need of redemption. We withdraw into silence not to ignore the suffering of our neighbour, but to allow a cocooning by this experience in a way that will heal them.
Fr. Clement Obiorah, OCD, March, 2026.
Fr. Clement Obiorah is a Discalced Carmelite friar and a vital presence at the Carmelite Priory at Boars Hill, Oxford. A theologian with a poet’s soul, Fr. Clement combines deep academic insight with a gentle, pastoral heart, helping others navigate the ‘wonderful adventure’ of the interior life.
As the Director of Communications for the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS), he is the editor of the Centre’s Journal, Beacon, and a formator whose reflections often feature in the community’s Word and Wisdom series. Beyond his literary contributions, Fr. Clement is a practitioner of 'care for the soul.' He is a Certified Pastoral Supervisor (Institute of Pastoral Supervision and Reflective Practice) and a dedicated spiritual director. He also serves on the Safeguarding Team, ensuring that the community remains a safe sanctuary for all who engage with the Carmelite Network.
For more info, click these three links: Carmelite Spirituality Network, Beacon Journal, Carmelite Priory
As the Director of Communications for the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS), he is the editor of the Centre’s Journal, Beacon, and a formator whose reflections often feature in the community’s Word and Wisdom series. Beyond his literary contributions, Fr. Clement is a practitioner of 'care for the soul.' He is a Certified Pastoral Supervisor (Institute of Pastoral Supervision and Reflective Practice) and a dedicated spiritual director. He also serves on the Safeguarding Team, ensuring that the community remains a safe sanctuary for all who engage with the Carmelite Network.
For more info, click these three links: Carmelite Spirituality Network, Beacon Journal, Carmelite Priory
* The terms 'Global Majority Heritage' (GMH) and 'Black and Indigenous Peoples of Colour' (BIPOC) refers to people whose backgrounds are from non-Western, non-White ethnic and cultural groups, reflecting the fact that the majority of the world’s population comes from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. These terms acknowledge the rich heritage of ancient Indigenous communities and challenge the traditional framing of racial and ethnic minorities by emphasizing that these populations are, in fact, the global majority.
(If you receive the weekly 'Quoting Silence' email you will automatically receive the Voices from Silence email.)
|
You can search the entire website here.
|
|