By PEGGY MOEN
Dr. Wilfred G. Chen, MD, has written another book for his Coffee Table Collection, and his timing couldn’t have been better.
His direct, concise, and beautiful poems make great reading for people living in a time marked by agnosticism, paganism, and noise. The book’s title, Listening in Silence, God Speaks, says it all. The accompanying paintings by Rembrandt deepen the reader’s understanding of what Dr. Chen is saying about the need for quiet and for meditation, and the importance of beauty in our lives.
As an example, here is Dr. Chen’s poem entitled These Troubling Times:
In these Troubling Times,
We Stand Here
On these Hills,
Seeing Beyond the Sea Line,
Pondering Our Being,
And Beyond.
Time is only a Flicker,
A Second,
Disappearing Into Eternity.
Thank You Lord, Thank You,
For Waiting on Me.
On the next page, a copy of Rembrandt’s Stormy Landscape says it all: A lonely figure rides away from the dark and gloomy landscape toward a brightening sky.
Helen L. Maraj wrote interpretations to accompany the poems, saying about These Troubling Times:
“The narrator looks at his life and the worrisome times. As he does this with greater and wider perspective (lines 2-6), he becomes aware of the bigness of time, and of our finite being.
“The realization puts the troubling times, and his troubled life, into uncommon perspective.
“Suddenly, the narrator intuits the comforting truth in life’s transience. He GETS suddenly, that life is not defined by pain, or by suffering. That this mortal life is not the endgame.
“At the end of the journey, awaits the eternal infinitely satisfying merging with the Father, our Creator.”
Other poems by Dr. Chen found here include: Soothing the Sin, Hell or Heaven, O Spirit So Holy, and Men Becoming Evil.
As Dr. Chen the poet recognizes, those of us living in exceptionally difficult times still experience the ills that always beset human life — sickness, financial worries, and loneliness.
Dr. Chen’s emphasis on silence reminded me of Screwtape in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, when that demon says, “Music and silence — how I detest them both!” and he praises the endless noise in Hell.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed during this Advent season and Christmastime, try buying and reading Dr. Chen’s new book and learn to listen in silence as God speaks. You might also have a friend or family member who would enjoy receiving a copy as a Christmas gift. Listening in Silence, God Speaks is available at amazon.com in hardcover and paperback, and in Kindle.
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