I have recently been invited to read from a site that appears to be one of the many attempts to recapture Catholicism for the sacred and take it back from the secular succubae that pollute its sanctuaries and corrupt its once and future mission. The journey of the ascetic soul is approached in terms of the cacophony of the inane from which the slave of modernity has to emerge to be able to resist the call to sloth.

“We live in a noisy world. Voices clamor for your attention, digital hawkers shove their products under your nose in increasingly surreptitious ways, and music is always in the background and available at a touch. Not too long ago music was only available performed live and one needed some level of proximity to the snake oil salesman to hear his pitch. Now, each of the tendrils of modern media have a megaphone firmly in their slimy grasp assaulting your senses demanding your ever-decreasing awareness and wallet.”

Every paragraph of Silence is Golden is arranged with useful critiques alongside positive advice for resisting the strident call to dissipation. I would have titled the article, Silence is Iron. Quietude is the precondition for consistent success in dangerous and uncertain times.