Mitch Carnell

Scripture Focus: “A time for keeping silent and a time for speaking.” — Ecclesiastes 3:7

Our society is filled with so many people who are eager to talk including me, but the Scriptures tell us that there is a time to keep silent. I was attending an assembly as a member of Boy’s State when I was in high school. The auditorium was filled with the chattering and laughter of hundreds of teenage boys. Suddenly the back doors flung open and in walked South Carolina governor and former Supreme Court Justice, James F. Byrnes. Total silence engulfed the room. No one told us to be quiet. We just knew.

When Carol and I first saw the mural depicting the outstretched arms of Jesus that adorns Sacred Heart Cathedral in Paris neither of us said a word. We were simply awe struck. Words were unnecessary. We sat in silence. A sunrise over the ocean, a sunset over the marsh or deer frolicking in the early morning can render me speechless.

When I stood on the platform overlooking the sunken battleship USS Arizona that entombed so many lives, I had no words. I experienced the same phenomenon when Carol and I walked through the American Cemetery at Normandy. This same sensation of awe grips me during the communion service. It always takes me back to my first communion as a very young Christian. The realization of why we are celebrating the sacrament is almost too much to bear. Words are useless.

Prayer Focus: Creator of the Universe, help me to realize that there are many things too sacred for words.