Saturday of the First Week of Advent
Prayer is an essential part of our spiritual journey. As in every healthy relationship, open conversations are necessary to encourage a deepening between the person praying and God. Throughout my life as a Catholic, I have been taught how to pray to God with certain prayers- the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, etc. As I have grown older, I have also been invited to pray using my own words to express my gratefulness, praise, petitions and love. All of these types of prayers are good, but I have begun to realize that my prayer is one-sided. In all good conversations there needs to be a give and take between the two persons sharing life. This notion has made me stop and ask, “How often do I stop and listen to what God wants to say to me?” If the goal of a disciple is to grow closer to God, then I realize the need to spend more time listening to all that God desires to speak to me.
The first reading from Isaiah describes a beautiful scene where God welcomes back the people who had turned away. There are promises of food and water, rain for the fields, and healing for the wounds of the people. Most notable, the passage describes that the people will see the Teacher with their own eyes. God will speak and say, “This is the way; walk in it.” There is an intimacy between the people and God, and God’s great love for the people is displayed through the care and compassion that is given. God promises that “when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.” God is present, close-by and is calling the people back to share in this covenant relationship.
God promises to be with us and to answer us. God has much to say, but if we want to be able to do God’s will, we must take time to stop and listen. I have been reading the book “Armchair Mystic- How Contemplative Prayer Can Lead You Closer to God” by Mark Thibodeaux, S.J., and the author has offered several helpful insights on listening to God. The author suggests that listening to God requires surrendering and a “great deal of faith,” since it requires that you believe that God is really present in your prayer. Fr. Thibodeaux suggests that one must learn to be quiet to hear God’s voice, since it often in the silence that God speaks. I am often reminded of Elijah who hears God speak in the slight whisper of the breeze, not in the great wind or the earthquake. The author also shares that God speaks in the ordinary parts of our existence- our body, our mind and our imagination.
Scripture can be one source of God’s revelation to us. Through quiet meditation and openness to God’s voice, God reveals that each of us is being called to know God in a deeper way. Fr. Thibodeaux gives several examples in his book on how people can improve their listening skills with God. One exercise involves prayerfully putting ourselves into the scripture reading as one of the characters from the story. Through meditation on the words and the story and a faith-filled surrender to God, the person praying can use his/her imagination to dive deep into the scene. Through prayer, the individual asks God to show insights from the story and how they might have impact on the life of the person praying with the scripture. Finally, one asks for God’s grace to help to be transformed through the insights and words spoken during the time of prayer. Another means described for listening to God is to prayerfully imagine having a conversation with God. I recognize that many people may find this awkward, but if a person approaches the prayer with surrender and trust, then one allows the opportunity for God to speak.
Since we are created in the image of a relational God (Trinity), I believe that God wants to join us in our conversations. God has much to say, but listening requires quiet, practice and a growing awareness of God’s presence in all parts of our lives. Knowing what is God’s voice and what is our voice may take time to distinguish, but through frequent times spent resting in God’s presence, the difference will become more apparent.
St. Teresa of Avila recognized the importance of talking and listening to God. She said, “Prayer is being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him, who we know, loves us.” God desires to be with us, to listen to us, and to speak to us. God places this desire to be in relationship deep within us. God will always be ready and willing to listen to whatever we want or need to say, but God is waiting for us to stop and listen to all that God wants to share with us.
"Loving Father, Jesus shows us the importance of prayer- both speaking to You and listening to Your voice. Through the grace of Your Spirit help us wait in stillness to hear Your voice. May this listening deepen our love for you, so we can go forward to share Your love with others. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen"
- Marylynn Herchline