Cancelling the Noise

By: Ivonne J. Hernandez

​I looked out the airplane window and saw the most beautiful landscape below. Close to the Grand Canyon, shades of orange and brown edged the earth below. A sigh escaped my lips as the desert beckoned me from below. There is something very appealing about the desert… the vastness, the stillness, the quiet. My heart was quickly moved to praise God.

A few minutes later, still looking down from the clouds, I could see a clear demarcation line between the wilderness and civilization. Suddenly there were houses upon houses, neighborhood after neighborhood. Why were they so packed together when there is so much land available?

A muffled announcement came over the PA system; we were going to start our descent into Las Vegas. I removed my headphones so I could hear the flight attendant’s instructions, and immediately the noise in the cabin overwhelmed me. My noise-cancelling headphones had done their job.

If there is one word I can use to describe my experience of Las Vegas, it is noise. From the moment we landed, my brain has been bombarded with sensory overload. Men found the most secluded place in the desert to create an oasis of noise. There is a difference between going to the desert and going to a deserted place. Las Vegas is in the desert, yet it is most definitely not deserted.

"Jesus said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.' People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat." (Mark 6:31)

​The disciples had just returned from their mission and were depleted. Jesus knew they needed to regain their strength. Mark’s comment on the fact that they had not had an opportunity to eat reminds me of the story of the prophet Elijah, when he was fleeing for his life, afraid of Jezebel:

“He went a day’s journey into the wilderness, until he came to a solitary broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: 'Enough, LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.'

He lay down and fell asleep under the solitary broom tree, but suddenly a messenger touched him and said, 'Get up and eat!'

He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and said, 'Get up and eat or the journey will be too much for you!'

He got up, ate, and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.” (1 Kings 19:4-8)
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Lent is coming soon, and it is coming right into the circumstances of our lives. It’s coming into the noise and the chaos of family life, of parish life, of work life. We will be invited to enter into the desert, into the wilderness, the place with vipers and dangers. It is the place where Jesus faced the tempter, and it is there He will face him, in us, again. But before we go to the desert, we are invited to rest in a deserted place, by ourselves. He is calling us to sit under our “solitary broom tree”. It is there where we come face to face with our weakness, our limits and our fears. It is there where we lay it all out and say, “Enough Lord!” The place where we finally come to accept that we can not do this on our own. In humility, in truth, we surrender all and rest. We leave the rest to God.

And what does God do? He knows we need nourishment, so He gives Himself to us. In the Eucharist He feeds us, He strengthens us. He then sends us to the desert… not to rest, but to face the temptations in the wilderness. To walk forty days and forty nights with God. Emmanuel, God is with us. When He calls, we know we can trust and go.

But, how can we hear Him calling, if our senses are overwhelmed with noise?

“There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.” (v.11-12)

Noise-cancelling headphones work by creating opposite sound waves, by creating anti-noise. We can do this in our spiritual lives by constantly singing praise to God. This will cancel the noise of the anti-Christ and allow us to listen to the still small voice of God. We will be able to hear the “cry of the poor”, in the midst of all the noise. We will hear Jesus say to us, “Give them some food yourselves.” (Mark 6:37).

So, let us make time each day to pray, to sing the psalms, to cancel all the noise. A very practical way to do this is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. These prayers mark the day, pausing our activity to sing together in praise as Church, as the family of God.

You can find the prayers of the day on this website: https://divineoffice.org
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Ivonne J. Hernandez

Ivonne is a Catholic wife, mother, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, President of Elisheba House, speaker, and writer. Author of The Rosary: Eucharistic Meditations. Regular contributor for CatholicMom.com and the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflection. She has written for other publications, including Emmanuel Publishing and Shalom Magazine. She and her husband, Rick Hernandez, coordinate the RCIA program at their home parish. She loves choral music and is a member of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. She lives in Trinity, FL with her husband and two of her young adult sons.