Voices
from Silence
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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.
May, 2026: Dion Moreno:
'PAUSE: Pay Attention Until Silence Expands'
Image: Dion Moreno's photo of a dragonfly, known in Trinidad as a 'Bati Mamselle'
Dion Moreno, Trinidad,
the Caribbean |
Listen to Dion reading 'PAUSE: Pay Attention Until Silence Expands'
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PAUSE: Pay Attention Until Silence Expands
Beloved, in meditation we are called to be silent, to be still, to PAUSE. Simply, we are called to ‘Pay Attention Until Silence Expands’. And when our silence expands, it increases our capacity to deal with our own distractions.
In Psalm 1:2 it says, ‘But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night’. Delight in God's law is the heart of Jesus' prayer. In obedience to his Father's will. Meditate day and night is the rhythm of Jesus' prayer. Withdrawal to a quiet place, to pray and be in communion with God.
My Journey to PAUSE
A few years ago, after the pandemic, I was on a pilgrimage to find inner peace and patience. The Holy Spirit led me to the Mount Saint Benedict Abbey Church, which is the oldest monastery in the Caribbean, located in the Tunapuna Hills in Trinidad and Tobago. A holy moment (a gift from Heaven above) was my introduction to Christian Meditation.
I was attending Mass daily at the monastery, and on the sixth day, a Saturday, I ran a bit late because I really didn't intend to go. But the Spirit had other plans for me. In a quiet whisper, he said, ‘Go’. So I obeyed.
Seated in the same pew where I normally sat during that week, was a dear friend from my old neighbourhood, the late Carolyn Lee Fook-Skerritt. In our dialogue after Mass, I told Carolyn that I was seeking inner peace and patience. She smiled and there afterwards introduced me to Christian Meditation: a prayer of the heart.
The therapy of the soul is prayer.
The language of the Spirit is silence.
God is waiting for us in silence.
But how do you and I draw closer to God? How do we get to know him?
He simply and lovingly invites us to ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).
I was reading a book called Holy Moments. In it, an Abbot journeyed into the mountains to visit his friend, who was a hermit, to seek his counsel on revitalising his monastery. The monastery was dormant, as visitors had stopped coming to it. When the abbot arrived at the hermit's cave, the two men walked peacefully into the forest until they came upon a lake.
It was breathtaking.
They sat on boulders overlooking the lake in silence for over an hour and the Abbot felt a deep peace rising in his soul, mesmerised by the lake, which was clear and still. And when the sun had reached its pinnacle, the hermit began to speak.
‘A still pond reflects the sun perfectly. God is the sun. You are the lake. When your soul is still and clear, you reflect the truth, beauty and goodness of God to others. But eventually the wind causes the lake to form ripples and the sun's reflection in the water become barely visible’.
They both left the lake and returned to the cave where the hermit told the Abbot to go back and tell the brothers, ‘The Messiah is among you’. The Abbot returned to his monastery and shared the wisdom of the hermit to his brothers. They started to view each other as if one of them was truly the Messiah. As time passed, the monks blissfully developed a new spirit of harmony and love, patience and forgiveness, which breathed new life into the community. As a result, they flourished more than before. Visitors returned and built up villages around it, and the monastery became the centre of life for the people living in the village.
When God touched me in silence, my spiritual hearing heightened in a Pentecost-like way. The world itself didn't change, but the way I listened in the world, in silence, to the spirit, was transformative.
Through the pause and the work of attention and meditation, it has cultivated within me a deeper contemplative prayer life. I moved beyond vocal prayer into a wordless, trusting and loving presence with God. Paying attention to the mantra, ‘Maranatha’, expands our silence, clearing a path through the jungle of our thoughts.
Were we are constantly bombarded with distractions, it leads us deeper into that mysterious silence in our heart, the centre where the spirit dwells.
I choose serenity over anxiety. Patience over chaos. Thanksgiving over complaining.
Romans 12:2 reminds us, ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’. Transformation begins with changed thinking, keeping our egos at bay. Meditation to me is ‘the gift of catching God's divine breath within me’, where he offers me a chance to slow down from the busyness of the world, leading me, flowing gently along the quiet and still waters where my soul is restored. Almost motionless, I am refreshed, taking in the very nature of being present with God.
It is a place that requires intentional silence, inner stillness, and surrendering control in order to experience intimate communion with God and others.
Silence strengthens intentions.
Take time to PAUSE.
Dion Moreno, May, 2026.
Dion is on the WCCM Caribbean Leadership Team, involved in planning, implementing, reporting on and mobilizing current activities in their WCCM community. He leads a monthly meditation session with around 20 male clients at New Life Ministries, a drug rehabilitation centre. He is part of the Secondary Schools’ Meditation team, leading around 150 pupils in meditation before the school day starts. Dion is the only male undertaking the Oblate path as a Postulant in the Carribean Oblates Community in Trinidad. He would appreciate your prayers for his continuing journey in which blessings flow and for which he gives thanks.
* 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.
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