To hope in silence

[CyrilSebastian]

From The Book of Lamentations, Chapter 3, Verses 25 to 26 state:

    Good is the Lord to one who waits for him,  
    to the soul that seeks him;     
      It is good to hope in silence     
      for the saving help of the Lord.      
  
Did "to hope in silence" mean that the individual should be reciting prayers?

 

[sirach2v4]

The Catholic Church approaches scripture with the rule of canonical exegesis – meaning that we need to take a verse in the context of the whole Bible.

As the New Testament urges us to pray constantly, this would imply that hope in silence would always include prayer.

The Jewish commentaries I’ve read say that there is no explicit command to pray, in the Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament). They infer that to love God with all our heart (see Dt 6:4 and following) means that we should be in prayer – constantly, as this command has no qualification to it.

 

[Augustine3]

To hope in silence primarily means to accept the situation as it is and await for God to come at his own good time. In the mean time keep your eyes of faith fixed on him (which can be done by reciting prayers ).

To hope in silence also recalls to mind a beatitude “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the land”.

 

[CyrilSebastian]

Sirach2v4 and Augustine3, Thank you for very thoughtful answers.
:yup: