Michael, our Development Officer, recently took part in Million Minutes’ SiLENT fundraiser – read below for his reflections.

Last week, I took part in a sponsored silence to raise money for Million Minutes, challenging myself to stay silent for a whole 24 hours. Each Lent, Million Minutes holds a campaign called SiLENT where they encourage people to raise money through sponsored silence.

I knew my SiLENT day was going to be difficult, but I hadn’t realised how difficult. For anyone that knows me, it can often be quite hard to get me to stop talking. The trouble with trying to stay completely silent, is you begin to notice all those ways in which you typically aren’t: humming, muttering to yourself (in my case, sometimes whole conversations are had), or even reading emails out loud. You suddenly become acutely aware of all those little ways that your brain keeps itself occupied throughout the day.

I believe that these ways your brain keeps things ticking over when you’re bored are natural – indeed, they are far better than “doomscrolling” on your phone endlessly. However, as Christians, we are called to be supernatural. Silence in the Christian tradition has existed since the very beginning: even the prophet Elijah heard the voice of God not in the storm, the earthquake, or the fire – but in the silence.

Silence, ironically, becomes a way to have a conversation as well – either with myself or with God – I am quiet in order to ensure that I am better disposed to listen. Indeed I found myself paying more attention to what people were saying to me, because I had to be aware of how I responded (not by words, but often my hand gestures and pointing). This is the heart of why Million Minutes runs this campaign each year; if we are to raise up and encourage youth voice we also must make sure that we are ready to listen to what they say. We can’t simply make token gestures, but we must be ready truly listen and have our minds and hearts truly changed.

Moreover, having to stay silent also opens the door to help us sympathise with those who are often unheard. In many cases this is young people – who often have so much they want to say – but, for example, in other cases, it might be those we see experiencing homelessness, with little-to-no agency of their own.

I even found the time to take a “prayer talk” at lunchtime, instead of staying in on my phone

I’ll admit that I wasn’t silent for the whole day, there were couple of slip-ups here and there: a “bless you” when I heard a sneeze, or calling out to my cat who was trying to enter through my bedroom window. But I think that speaking merely a handful of times (having never spent that long in silence in my entire life) is pretty good going!

 

I would highly recommend SiLENT to anyone who is considering taking part. Much like our recent Sponsored Sleepout Challenge, SiLENT invites you to place yourself in slight discomfort in order to act in solidarity with the people you are helping. As mentioned above, it’s an excellent chance to really listen to other people, to yourself, or to God.

Million Minutes is a Catholic youth charity that seeks to equip the Church to more effectively accompany all young people by promoting an inclusive and collaborative youth ministry centred on youth voice.

Lent is still on, so if you would like to take part in a sponsored silence, donate money, or simply find out more about SiLENT 2026, visit the Million Minutes website here<<