The words “listen’ and “silent” are made up of the same letters.
More than just having the same letters, there can also be another connection.
When we reflect upon the words "listen" and "silent", we may come to see that in order to listen, we have to be silent.
To be silent does not merely mean that we do not say anything, because we may be silent and yet in our minds, we are already formulating a response or thinking about something else.
To be truly silent is to listen so as to truly try to understand what we are listening to.
In Psalm 46:10, there is this verse: Be still and know that I am God.
It means that when God speaks to us, we will listen and we will understand.
In the 1st reading, God finally spoke to Job. All this while Job and his friends had be talking and trying to find reasons for Job’s afflictions and misfortunes.
As God spoke, Job had to be truly silent and to listen so that he could understand what God is telling him.
Job had his questions, but what mattered as God spoke was not Job’s questions but his realization.
God speaks to us in so many ways and in so many instances and experiences.
May we be silent so that we can listen to the voice of God speaking to us in various ways and in other people.
As Jesus said in the gospel, when we listen to what God is saying to us, and when we let God’s word be in us, then others will listen to what we will say to them.