Fathers of Saint Joseph – Meeting Notes

Date: Saturday, 22nd November 2025

Location: St. Mary’s Pope’s Quay, Cork, T23 P8ER

Context

We began our meeting with a time of Eucharistic Adoration. This helped us settle into silence and prepare our hearts before the reflection.

Reflection Reading

Book: LEAD: The Four Marks of Fatherly Greatness – Devin Schadt

Pillar 1: Listening to Discern Your Mission (Embracing Silence)

Reading 40: The Kingdom of Noise (page 117)

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (c.1605) Saint Dominic in Prayer. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Available at: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/32014/saint-dominic-in-prayer (Accessed: 22 November 2025).

Notes from the Reading

The reading reflects on the power of silence and its importance in the spiritual life. It contrasts silence with the constant noise of the modern world.

The author refers to ideas found in The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis, where the strategy of evil is described as filling life with endless noise and distraction. Noise confuses, overwhelms, and weakens our ability to listen to God.

Modern music, entertainment, and constant media can inform us, but they can also shape our thoughts without us noticing. When noise becomes constant, it leaves little space for prayer, reflection, or discernment.

The reading invites us to fast from noise: stepping back from television, media, and constant stimulation, and resisting the habit of being led by the world’s distractions.

Call to action: During prayer, when distractions arise, do not fight them anxiously. Instead, raise them to the Lord and ask Him to breathe His inspiration into your prayer.

A related reflection (page 444) asks an important question: Do I begin prayer by speaking to God and then take time to listen, or do I fill my prayer entirely with words?

Shared Thoughts from the Group

• Noise and confusion are tools that draw us away from God.

• The Church is alive and strong. We are called to trust in this and reduce the influence of the world’s noise.

• We are encouraged to stop giving too much attention to what the world demands of us and return our focus to God.

Personal Reflections & Final Thought

Prayer is a battle. I once heard this said on a Father Mike Schmitz podcast, and it resonates with my own experience. Often, I spend most of my prayer time speaking, only later realising I missed the chance to listen.

I have found that having a regular time and place for prayer helps greatly. At the same time, finding moments during the day to step aside, even briefly, and pray wherever I am helps maintain a constant connection with God.

The world feels increasingly noisy and restless. Yet, when I fast from media, entertainment, or even news for a time, I notice that life continues peacefully. Balance is needed: not becoming detached from the world, but also not allowing it to overwhelm us or lead us into discouragement.

Silence creates space for God to speak. This remains a quiet but powerful invitation for each of us.