The Silent God

Like the biblical Job, many people suffer under the silence of God. This book shows that it is enlightening to retrace the origins of the concept of divine speech and silence in the ancient Near East and Greece.

When God Is Silent shows you how to trust God even when He seems unresponsive and remote — even when, as in the famous incident in the Gospels, He seems to sleep while you are buffeted by the storms of life. Author Luis Martinez quotes that beautiful line from the Song of Songs — “I sleep, but my heart is awake” — and confirms that with Jesus this is indeed the case: His love for you never sleeps, no matter what. Martinez shows how you can make better sense of your life once you realize that God has actually been closest to you when He seemed farthest away; and once you learn why He often speaks to you only in silence. Best of all, Martinez teaches you the secret of true happiness, which you can achieve even amid the troubles that are inescapable elements of every human life. With sober realism and simple faith, this book will show you how to discover — and then to take refuge in — the comfort our Lord offers you, even when He seems to sleep. “A powerful masterpiece. A great gem of Catholic spirituality.” Fr. Benedict Groeschel Author, Arise from Darkness “Anyone who wants to progress in prayer or who seeks to get past blockages in spiritual growth will find graceful help here.” Bert Ghezzi Author, Getting Free “In the silence of Christ’s sleep, we can learn the silence of charity, cultivate the silence of discretion, experience the interior silence of contemplation, and so find peace.” Donna Steichen Author, Prodigal Daughters Learn to get through the times when God seems distant, as you discover: Silence: why it’s essential for all real gr0wth in the spiritual lifeWhy Jesus must seem to sleep in order to refine your love and purify your soulJesus’ thirty “hidden years”: the important lessons they hold for your life todayWhy worry? Two common reasons why people do worry — and remedies for eachA simple, effective, and gentle procedure for becoming holy in your daily lifePrudence: why it’s one of the most difficult — and most important — virtues that you must acquire while Jesus sleepsThe three paths to spiritual peace: are you taking them? Do you know what they are?Two times that Jesus grieved — and what He meant to teach you in eachThree surprising things that promote your spiritual welfare — if you know how to use themHow the presence of Jesus in your life can transform your experience of sufferingThe medicine of the spiritual life: why it must often be bitterAnd much more that will help you endure the storms of your life with confidence that even as Jesus sleeps, He cares for you!

You’ve heard the story before: an orphaned boy, raised by a wise old man, comes to a fuller knowledge of his magic and uses it to fight the great evil threatening his world. But what if that hero were destined to become the new dark lord? The Academy of Chaenbalu has stood against magic for centuries. Hidden from the world, acting from the shadows, it trains its students to detect and retrieve magic artifacts, which it jealously guards from the misuse of others. Because magic is dangerous: something that heals can also harm, and a power that aids one person may destroy another. Of the academy’s many students, only the most skilled can become avatars—warrior thieves, capable of infiltrating the most heavily guarded vaults—and only the most determined can be trusted to resist the lure of magic. More than anything, Annev de Breth wants to become one of them. But Annev carries a secret. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents’ killers. Seventeen years later, he struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When Annev is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy’s masters, he must finally decide whether to accept the truth of who he really is ... or embrace the darker truth of what he may one day become.

In these 1997 Lyman Beecher Lectures in Preaching delivered at Yale Divinity School, the author focuses on the task of those who preach and those who hear sermons in a world where people thirst for a word from God.

Like the biblical Job, many people suffer under the silence of God. This book shows that it is enlightening to retrace the origins of the concept of divine speech and silence in the ancient Near East and Greece.

Can we trust a God who gives us different answers than we pray for? Who only fully reveals himself when we look back? Who lets us walk in darkness for months (and sometimes years) at a time? In Finding Faith in the Dark, Laurie Short says yes, and through her story and the stories of others, she reveals a God who is able to transform the dark chapters of our lives into opportunities of grace. Maybe you've been there: The husband or wife you stayed faithful to had an affair The death of a spouse or child has torn your heart A diagnosis has taken away your health, your plans and your future When these things happen, we are left wondering "Where is that God who promises to answer our prayers if we trust in Him? Why isn’t my life turning out the way I hoped, let alone how I had planned?” If you are, or have ever been, in that place, this book is for you. And more than helping you find your way out, this book will help you find your way through that place.

He Speaks in the Silence is about Diane Comer’s search for the kind of intimacy with God every woman longs for. It is a story of trying to be a good girl, of following the rules, of longing for a satisfaction that eludes us. Disappointed with all Diane had been told was supposed to fulfill her, she begged God in desperation to give her more. And He did. But first He took her through a trial so debilitating it almost destroyed what little faith she had. He let her go deaf. Using vivid parallels between her deafness and every woman’s struggle to hear God, this book shows women not only how Diane, as a deaf woman, hears in everyday life, but also how she can learn to listen to God in the midst of her own loud life, finding intimacy with God and the deep soul satisfaction she longs for.

As a custodian of the gods was handed down to him by his father, Papa is popular and powerful, feared and revered as the most potent priest in the village of Adiembra; builds confidence in himself; and believes there is no power above his gods. However, there is a problem that tears him apart: his last wife is unable to bear him a child. Papa consults a god in the North who makes his last wife conceive, with a condition to make a sacrifice every new moon. During labor, she struggles to live but dies. Papa soon forgets the pain and hurt of death as the beautiful baby girl grows. Papa forgets to perform the sacrifice on a few occasions as the god of the North asked. The god strikes, bringing punishment on the little girl with an abscess that causes her to decay till death. Papas boys rebel and elope, turning against him and his gods. In anger, Papa beats up wives and sends them away to their families, living his life alone. He makes love to a prostitute during a visit to his friend. An ant falls from his penis; he bleeds until his health deteriorates. Papa loses connection with the gods and his family and consequently commits suicide.

Pete Greig, the acclaimed author of Red Moon Rising, has written his most intensely personal and honest account yet in God on Mute, a book born out of his wife Samie's fight for her life and diagnosis of a debilitating brain tumor. Greig asks the timeless questions of what it means to suffer and to pray and to suffer through the silence because your prayers seem unanswered. This silence, Greig relates, is the hardest thing. The world collapses. Then all goes quiet. Words can't explain, don't fit, won't work. People avoid you and don't know what to say. So you turn to Him and you pray. You need Him more than ever before. But somehow . . . even God Himself seems on mute. In this heart-searching, honest, and deeply profound book, Pete Greig looks at the hard side of prayer, how to respond when there seem to be no answers, and how to cope with those who seek to interpret our experience for us. Here is a story of faith, hope, and love beyond all understanding.

2019 Catholic Press Association, Third Place: Children's Books and Books for Teens—Children's Books 2019 Independent Press Awards, Distinguished: Children's Religious (Non-Fiction) 2019 International Book Awards, Finalist: Children's Religious 2019 Best Book Awards, Finalist: Children's Religious Shhh…God Is in the Silence reminds us that we are all loved by God and were created with the spark of God’s love in our hearts. Through the gentle repetition of simple yet profound truths, this book will help children realize that silence is itself a form of prayer—the part of the prayer conversation when we quiet our minds to listen to God in our hearts. For families looking for affirming resources to show children that we are all loved by God, for teachers and catechists entrusted with the spiritual formation of young children, and for anyone looking for a meditative reminder of silence as prayer, Shhh…God Is in the Silence will help create the space to listen to the voice of God gently guiding us and speaking to us.