I know I said a couple of blog posts ago that we should basically shut up as much as possible since we’ll be judged on every word that falls from our lips. But if everyone totally stopped talking, the unemployment lines would be full of mimes…(on second thought). 
While all of us are called to progress in the life of prayer through all the different kinds (i.e. vocal, meditation, and contemplation), you never stop praying vocally. Even if you’re a contemplative hermit on top of Mount Everest, you keep calling out to God (probably for more blankets).
Vocal prayer is especially important because our prayer lives aren’t just personal. We come together as the family of God in the liturgy. We praise, thank and worship Him together. And we need words to do it. Can you imagine if your priest resorted to shadow puppets for his homily? (Pray that never happens.)
Personal prayer finds its end, so to speak, in the liturgy…it’s source and goal, says the Catechism. Why? Because, it continues, the “liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed” (1074). Yes, silence is truly golden. But when we’re in the liturgy talking to our Father, go ahead and pump up the volume.
