Fr Boniface Hicks OSB names five movements of silence in the Mass. The first is ascetical silence — preparation. John Paul II called it the "active passivity of silence." During the introductory rites you settle the heart, acknowledge sin, and let the snow globe of distractions come to rest.

Fr Boniface Hicks OSB — Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey and author of The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass — gives us a framework that Burke's external walkthrough (A7) cannot quite provide. The Mass has five movements of silence, and each one corresponds to a different interior act. They unfold in order through the Mass, and once you can name them you can participate in them.

The first movement is the silence of preparation, an ascetical silence. It belongs to the introductory rites — the moments from the sign of the cross through the Penitential Act, Gloria, and collect. Fr Hicks draws the term from John Paul II's address to the U.S. bishops in 1998: "Active participation certainly means … the active passivity of silence, stillness, and listening."

Active passivity is the key phrase. Silence here is not absence of activity; it is a different kind of activity. You are vigorously stilling yourself. You are deliberately letting go of what you were thinking about ten minutes ago in the parking lot. You are noticing your distractions and naming them. You are acknowledging your sin in the penitential act. None of this is passive in the slack sense.

Fr Hicks uses two memorable images. The snow globe: when you arrive at Mass your interior is shaken — a thousand particles of distraction swirling. The ascetical silence is holding the snow globe still and waiting. "Hold the snow globe still and wait; when the snow settles the face appears before us." If you keep shaking the globe the face never appears. The settling takes minutes; it is not instant.

The second image is the closet: the introductory rites are the time to enter the closet of your heart, close the door, and order what you find inside. The world will be back soon enough. For these few minutes, the noise stops.

Practical: arrive five minutes early. Sit. Do not scroll. Let the snow settle.

Fr Boniface Hicks OSB — Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey and author of The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass — gives us a framework that Burke's external walkthrough (A7) cannot quite provide. Hicks's premise is that the Mass has five movements of silence, each one corresponding to a different interior act, and that without these silences the Mass is heard but not interiorly received. The five movements unfold in order through the Mass; this course takes them one by one.

The first movement is the silence of preparation, an ascetical silence. It belongs to the introductory rites — the moments from the sign of the cross through the Penitential Act, Gloria, and collect. The word ascetical (from Greek askēsis, training) signals that this silence is effortful. It is not the silence of the empty room; it is the silence of the athlete holding still before the start of a race. There is tension in it. There is exertion.

Fr Hicks draws the term from John Paul II's address to the U.S. bishops in 1998: "Active participation certainly means … the active passivity of silence, stillness, and listening." Active passivity is the paradox at the heart of all five movements. Silence here is not the absence of activity; it is a different kind of activity — what John Paul II elsewhere called interior work. You are vigorously stilling yourself. You are deliberately letting go of what you were thinking about ten minutes ago in the parking lot, the email, the argument, the schedule. You are noticing your distractions and naming them — not analysing them, but acknowledging that they are present and that they are not where your attention needs to be. You are acknowledging your sin in the Penitential Act. None of this is passive in the slack sense. All of it is genuine work.

Fr Hicks uses two memorable images, both of which deserve attention because they are doing real pastoral work.

The first is the snow globe. When you arrive at Mass your interior is shaken — a thousand particles of distraction swirling through the inner space. The ascetical silence is holding the snow globe still and waiting. "Hold the snow globe still and wait; when the snow settles the face appears before us." The face is the Lord's. If you keep shaking the globe — checking your phone, looking around, rehearsing grievances, planning the afternoon — the face never appears. The settling takes minutes; it is not instant. It is also not something you can rush. The snow descends at its own rate. Your only job is to stop shaking.

The second image is the closet. Matthew 6: "But when you pray, go into your room, and shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret." The introductory rites of the Mass are the time to enter the closet of your heart, close the door, and order what you find inside. The world will be back soon enough; the rest of the Mass will involve real participation in real liturgy. For these few minutes, before anything else happens, the noise stops. You sit in the closet with the door shut.

Why does this silence come first? Because none of the other four movements can happen if it does not. The silence of listening (movement 2) requires that you arrive in stillness; the silence of offering (3) requires that the heart is already gathered; the silence of communion and adoration (4) requires that nothing is rattling in the chamber where the Lord wants to enter; the silence of savouring (5) requires that you have been silent enough throughout to know what you are savouring. The first silence sets up all the others. Skip it and the rest will not work.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal explicitly prescribes brief silences at several points in the Mass; §45 is the chief reference. The Church has built the silence into the rite. Your task is to inhabit it, not to fill it.

Practical step: arrive five minutes early. Sit. Do not scroll. Let the snow settle. If your parish is loud before Mass — children, conversation, music — close your eyes and do the work interiorly. The point is not external silence; it is interior stillness. External silence helps but is not required. Interior stillness is required, and is always possible.