There appears to be little time available for private prayer. Mass. The Missal, normally so categorical in its instructions, merely tells us that if opportunity serves we can have a period of sacred silence, or we can have a psalm or canticle of praise, presumably sung or said aloud. Some years ago I met a young priest who ran very successful retreats for teenagers. These retreats were advertised as weekends of complete silence and the participants went off home congratulating themselves on having heroically kept silence for a whole weekend. The young people had not even noticed the very quiet piped music.
Silence is a rare commodity today.
The lucky ones among us are those who can choose silence from time to time. It's an endless assault on the senses and on concentration. Little wonder that tranquilizers are a crutch to see millions through the day and all too often through the night as well. You think irresistibly of the pre-war Nazi rallies, bands blaring, thousands and thousands of voices bawling out the same acclamation to the Leader and sinking their consciousness and consciences in his, banishing silly qualms and despairing scruples. We trust never to see again such political manipulation in the West.