"God will give us the right way to walk, you know: [that] confusion is not a good way to live. If we see clearly the way, then we can walk with security. So I think we must hold firmly to doctrine, and pray."
He went on to say that is hopeful about the future of the liturgy in the Church, however, because many young priests do believe in and understand the importance of silence, which gives him confidence that there could be change in the future.
In his presentation the cardinal was careful to point out that finding and making silence in our lives and liturgy wasn't the end in itself, but "a necessary condition" for the true destination, which is communion with God.
The voice of God, he said, is "Jesus Christ, the Word, and it is precisely the mystery of the Incarnation to shed light on the divine-human relationship. And it is in this light that he illuminates also the sense of the liturgy."
"It is the irruption of divine in the human being," he explained. "A bundle of light that comes down to us and brightens all our darkness."
And silence is what creates the environment which makes it possible to "welcome the incarnation."
Closing, the cardinal said that silence is "the inner climate, the inner attitude, the inner disposition that allows all this and makes the Word of the Church fruitful."
"To a Church that is likely to become impoverished because it can close itself in parameters of purely human judgement, I humbly allow myself to point the way of silence, so that every believer, but also every celebrating community, opens to God's initiative and accepts all grace which comes from Him."
Edward Pentin and Paul Badde contributed to this report.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.