Hear the voice?

 John 10:22-30

Listen...what do you hear? This week I was asked how to pray. This question has sparked me into thinking of all the different ways we pray. Mostly we pray to pour out our hearts. We want our voice heard because of whatever tragedy comes to mind in our lives. But do we ever slow down and listen?

Our world is full of not being able to listen right now. People who have the correct answer, the correct response, the correct way of thinking and we don't listen to one another because we are right. This is not the way that Jesus taught. Nor is it a way of prayer.

When I think of prayer it is a relationship. Yes we do pour ourselves out, but we do so in order to hear. In order to get all that is distracting away so we can listen. 

Listen to the breeze in the air, what does it say? Listen to the stream as it flows, what does it say? Listen as we watch the deer pause and eat, what does it say? Listen to the bird song in the morning what does it say?

Taking time to listen is a deep gift. It is the way we honor and respect one another. It is the way in which we might hear what we agree on. It is the way we hear we might be both afraid and become vulnerable with one another. This is the way in which we humble ourselves like a disciple of Jesus. 

He listened to the woman at the well and she listened and asked questions from that listening to better understand. She heard her own life echoed in Jesus' word by the well in Samaria and she knew to tell everyone what had happened to her. It was life changing for her to be listened to.

He listened to the ones who came to him for healing. He asked what they needed. He listened to his own body as he felt the power leave from a touch and he responded to ask who touched me. This lead to healing more than a bleeding woman, but in healing her into being a daughter of Abraham again. 

We need to listen more. To hear the shepherds voice in this noisy and non-listening world. It is why each Sunday we leave a couple of minutes to sit after the homily. To listen. To invite a response from Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit to what we have heard. To allow it to sit and become a prayer invitation.

So take the time to listen each day. Even if it is just a while. To sit and hear Jesus' voice calling through the clamor. To know this prayer is a response in our hearts. To feel the peace which comes from listening to the still voice within. Be still. Listen.