When Silence Becomes Solidarity: How Contemplation Unlocks Our Deepest Service
The passing of the mother of a friend recently brought back a vivid memory: holding my mother Julie’s hand at her final hours in a hospital ICU taught me that prayer is not a monologue—but an embrace of the One who holds us all.
WHAT: The Communion of Wordless Prayer
Some 8 years ago, I sat by my mother’s hospital bed, her breath shallow, machines humming - breathing for her. No rosaries, no novenas—just silence. My hand in hers, our breathing synced. In that stillness, I felt it: a presence larger than fear, deeper than pain. It wasn’t "my" prayer. It was “our” prayer—a Presence connecting us to every soul facing darkness, to the Divine breathing life into dust.
In the last week, casual conversations I have had with friends and colleagues seem to drift to prayer. From the training program I ran for Teachers in Mindful Movement to last Friday’s Mindfulness Meditation Session where we spoke about “self-regulation.”
Curious as always, I dug into how prayer - individual and collective - has come about in human existence. When did we as a human species start praying?
I find that the act of praying arose as a consequence of our evolution which calls for important traits - high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, and realization of “self” continuity after death. Even our closest living relatives - the ancestral chimpanzees and bonobos, even elephants, actually performed rituals for their dead, with long periods of silence and mourning, even returning to graves to caress the remains.
My own practice of contemplative prayer - from centering prayer to now simply sitting meditation and moment by moment mindfulness- has evolved in so many ways. While in the past, words and songs, chants and incantations, special devotions to saints, retreats of all sorts have worked for me, I now have a more basic, “organic” and embodied way of praying - by simply being. It is like when you peer into my mind, all you will see is what I am experiencing. Or perhaps even beyond experiencing - beyond thoughts, feelings. Just what is. Right here. Right now. No expectations. Yet a deep radical faith emerges from the depths of my being.
I have also somehow found “labels” and “boundaries” that emphasize differences - in religious beliefs and practices- rather than commonalities and shared meaning too constricting. In fact, I believe that if we only focus on the shared contemplative practices of different religions, and apply even a fraction of these in our daily lives, we will not have the war and conflict we are seeing in the world today that may at any time lead to collective self-annihilation.
Am I too naive? I argue not. Because when I sit in silence and stillness, and recognizing whatever is emerging in the present moment, I know in a strange yet powerful way that I am one with all. And somehow, no matter what is going on in my life, I am inherently and powerfully A-OK! I have nothing to fear. It is that state of mind that leads to insight - seeing reality as it is. These daily sits help me become more resilient in the face of life’s many challenges. And guide me with clarity and peace how I might skillfully navigate crisis after crisis, and the darkness that I feel at times envelops the world.
This is the core of all wisdom traditions:
Contemplation—the silent, still center where we touch what mystics call the "Ground of Being."
“In silence, we meet the language God spoke before creation." (Meister Eckhart)
SO WHAT: The Universal Thread in All Faith
1. Beyond Words, Beyond Borders
My journey—from the Jesus Prayer to Zen koans revealed this truth:
At their depths, all sacred paths converge in silence:
- Buddhist mindfulness (vipassana) dissolves the ego’s noise to reveal interconnectedness.
- Sufi remembrance (dhikr) turns repetition into rapt attention.
- Jewish “hitbodedut” (solitary contemplation) invites raw conversation with the Divine.
- Christian centering prayer echoes St. Paul: “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words" (Romans 8:26).
In stillness, we discover: Our solitude is solidarity.
2. My ACTS Framework: Prayer as a Circle of Love
I now see prayer not as a ladder to heaven or a long list of wishes, but as a cycle of belonging:
- Adoration to Absolute Abandonment of self to the Divine → Praising the Sacred not for what It gives, but for what It Is. Like my whispered ‘sacred word’ - YahWeh - pronounced with a inhale with the first syllable and an exhale with the last syllable; not begging, but beholding.)
- Confessing, Seeking pardon, forgiveness, to Completely consenting and resting in Presence. (Like the hospital silence where "I" vanished; only Love remained.)
- Thanksgiving to Gratitude as radical and Total trust.
(My "Unanswered Prayer Journal" reveals : “I asked for healing—You gave me surrender.")
- Supplication to Simply surrendering oneself to Service for others→ Letting prayer move through our hands and action. (Holding my mother’s hand was the prayer.)
“Contemplation is not a retreat from the world—it is immersion in its sacred core." (Thomas Merton)
NOW WHAT: Weaving ACTS Into Daily Life
1. For the Overwhelmed (A 60-Second Practice)
- Absolute Abandonment: Whisper “Holy, Holy, Holy" or “Your will be done,” as you touch a doorknob, feel rain, or hold coffee.
- Complete Consent: Breathe in silence (1 breath = 1 release of control).
- Total Trust: Name one gift the pain you are experiencing is teaching you.
- Simple Surrender thru Service : Text someone - “I’m here. One with you. No reply needed."
2. For Families and Communities (Create "Contemplative Cells")
- Gather 3 people weekly for:
- 5 min silence (Contemplation).
- Shared gratitude (Thanksgiving).
- One action (Service): e.g., Pack meals, call lonely elders.
- Closing praise (Adoration): “The world is charged with Your grandeur."
3. For Leaders (Prayer as Public Work)
- Before meetings: Pause 30 seconds (Contemplation).
- Make decisions asking: “Does this serve life?" (Service).
- End emails with: “I’m grateful for your wisdom" (Thanksgiving).
CALL TO ACTION:
Breathe the Prayer the World Needs
This week:
1. Pause at midday. Place hands on your heart.
2. Whisper:
“Absolute abandonment of Self; Complete consent to Divine Presence and action within; Total trust and thanksgiving, Simple surrender to Service."
3. Ask: “How can I be the next right thing for someone today?"
“The deepest prayer is not what we say—but who we become in the saying." (St. Teresa of Ávila)
Prayer is where we stop speaking to God and start breathing with the world God loves.
- Susan Grace Rivera
Posted: July 13, 2025
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