God is the friend of silence

It is best to learn to silence the faculties and to cause them to be still, so that God may speak.--St John of the Cross

Gospel text (Jn 8,21-30):
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come."
So the Jews said,
"He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
He said to them, "You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins."
So they said to him, "Who are you?"
Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world."
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
"When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him."
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus only said what the Father taught Him (Jn 8:28). Jesus spent a lot of time being taught by His Father. He arose early to listen to His Father (Mk 1:35), stayed up very late to be with Him (Lk 6:12), and spent forty days in the desert to hear His Father's plans for His public ministry (Mt 4:1ff). In fact, Jesus mentioned that the Father "has commanded Me what to say and how to speak" (Jn 12:49).

God often speaks in a quiet voice (1 Kgs 19:12ff). We live in a world where too many voices drown out the voice of God. Turn off the TV. Turn off the radio. Get up early, stay up late, and listen attentively to the Father.

In silence ask Him: «Who are you?» (Jn 8:25). And He will answer «the way, the truth, and the life» (Jn 14:6).