Today is Good Friday. By choice, I will spend much of today in silence. My plan is to leave the television and the radio off. No videos on the computer. No music.

I will not be idle. I will go to church. I will be cooking and baking — creating the contents of my Easter basket. I will be doing some editing for my quarterly project. I will likely do some reading for my research project. I will walk the dog. But I will do these things without a soundtrack and without background distraction.

Silence is a rare commodity nowadays. Some people have turn on the tv or radio or ipod the second they awaken. (Some people leave the tv or radio on while they sleep.) There's always noise. Something to distract us from our own thoughts and reflections.

Good Friday is an excellent time to embrace the silence, to be alone with our thoughts, to dwell on the mysteries that we celebrate. This year, give yourself the gift of silence.