Back into silence

Last Sunday evening we attended our first English-language Mass in a church since Christmas. It sounds so odd for me to describe it as such, but when we have gone to English Mass in Shenzhen it has been in an international school's cafeteria, and that small group isn't big on silence either using music instead to fill the time. As I've mentioned before, at the Chinese Mass the time before and after communion is filled with the sound of Chinese prayer chants. I haven't been successful in getting a good video of this, but I will keep trying when I get back. It is something to hear. It can also be very loud.

So in the cavernous Sacred Heart Church in Shadyside, my sister's parish, I was shocked with the silence. I knew it would be there, but in that enormous space, it really shook me, especially after communion. The hymns finished, and yet people were still going up for communion and returning to their seats. All I heard was the quiet shuffling of feet.

It was almost like I had heard nothing for the first time. That certainly wasn't the case, but I think my lingering jetlag exaggerated the experience.