God Speaks to Us, But Do We Take Time To Listen?

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God speaks to us–makes Himself known to us–in Scripture. Many want to know God better, more intimately, more closely. Yet a question often remains—just how do we get to know Him better? Another way of looking at it, is how can we develop a deeper interior life? People who ask about spiritual direction often are asking, in one way or another just that—how can I develop a deeper interior life? How can I know God more intimately? It’s not difficult, but it takes a little time and some appropriately focused effort.

God Speaks to Us as We Spend Time with Him

Getting to know someone—anyone—better requires us to spend quality time with them. Prayer and our interior life are no different. If we are to develop an ever more intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior, we must spend time with Him. What better way to spend time with Him than by listening to Him in Scripture as we pray?

Knowing About Him Isn’t the Same as Knowing Him

Many serious, faithful people of goodwill spend a lot of time in Bible studies, reading spiritual books, and viewing video offerings on the faith. To be sure, they learn a lot from these activities. Participating in such activities in groups helps expand horizons and open up new perspectives. Knowing about someone, however, will not replace actually knowing that person. We can know a lot about all things theological, yet not know, in our hearts, the person of Jesus Christ.

This reminds me of a Rosary meditation in Father Peyton’s Rosary Prayer Book wherein he describes the teachers at the temple intellectually discussing in-depth matters of faith without having that personal relationship with God. The metaphor he uses to describe it: sitting down at the table with a wonderful meal. All the while, much speculation goes into what ingredients it contains, the weight of the entrée, the vintage, and the age of the wine, etc. But no one actually tastes those great dishes or savors the aged wine. They just talk about it.

God Calls Us to Him

God is calling us to do more than simply talking about and learning about Him. Of course, learning more about our God and our faith can be a truly worthwhile pursuit. At some point, however, we need to sit at the feet of the Master and listen to Him. He wants us to come to know Him better—to build up our relationship with Him. We can begin to know Him better by listening when He speaks to us. A path for doing this comes through spending quiet time praying with Scripture. The Gospels are the written record of Christ’s words and deeds. As such, they present a great opportunity to deepen our one-on-one relationship with Him.

God Speaks to Us Continually in the Silence

God speaks to us not only in Scripture but in those still, quiet moments of solitude, which we may be spending with Him in Scripture. Used in this sense, spiritual solitude refers to spending some time alone with God. Robert Cardinal Sarah tells us, in The Power of Silence, “A silent man is all the more apt to listen and to stand in the presence of God…For any prayer and interior life, we need silence…”

In Personal Prayer, Fathers Acklin, OSB, and Hicks, OSB, tell us, “…The deepest prayer is a silent acknowledgment of [the fact that we are in the arms of God, being loved by Him]…God is always speaking, using the language of silence…” How true!

We need to let ourselves be recollected in the presence of God, in silence, routinely. Only then can we let Him help us come to know Him more intimately. How sad it is that some of us don’t create opportunities for silence, to be recollected in His presence for even fifteen minutes a day. The heresy of busyness consumes us. Life becomes a marathon of activities, one right after the other, from waking until finally turning in for the night.

On this topic, over twenty years ago, Pope St. John Paul II wrote:

“Ours is a time of continual movement which often leads to restlessness, with the risk of ‘doing for the sake of doing’. We must resist this temptation by trying ‘to be’ before trying ‘to do’. In this regard, we should recall how Jesus reproved Martha: ‘You are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful’ (Lk 10:41-42). – Novo Millennio Inuente, 15.

When God Speaks to Us, Are We Listening?

Back in the 1970s, an investment banking firm made a series of commercials for television that included the line, “When ________ talks, people listen.” We can ask today, “When God talks, do we listen?” More particularly, do we listen to His individual word to us? If we wish to grow interiorly in our love for God and to become closer to Him, we need to spend time with Him in solitude. We need to listen to Him in the silence. To know Him, (not just know about Him), we must spend time with Him.

How to Listen Better When God Speaks to Us

Besides making it a priority to spend time with the Bible for the same prayerful reading and reflection, there are other things we can do to help dispose us to hear God when He speaks:

  • The evening before your next day’s mental prayer, briefly review the Scripture passage you’ll be praying with that next day. Get familiar with it—look for answers to any questions you have about it. This way, when you actually pray with it, you can be open to a dialogue with God. You’ll be praying from your heart instead of performing another intellectual exercise.
  • Cut down on, or eliminate, exposure to music, media, social media, and other activities that rob you of your peace or that diminish your ability to sit quietly in the presence of God. We all face distractions in prayer. We bring some of these distractions on ourselves through what we allow to stimulate our consciousness outside of prayer. Get rid of those dissipating habits.
  • Place yourself in God’s presence, invoking the aid of the Holy Spirit, as you begin your prayer time. No matter how many times you are distracted, return to Him. He’s there, and He appreciates your commitment.
Intimacy with Christ: It’s About Who You Know, Not What You Know

Are you on fire for the Lord? Good! Do you want to serve Him and build up the Kingdom? Great! Start with dedicated mental prayer. Carve out a little time in silence to be alone with Our Lord. As St. Teresa of Calcutta tells us, “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace.” Let the graces of your prayer life prepare a path for your apostolate’s fruitfulness.

In this case, it truly is not what you know, but Who you know that makes a difference. With the rapid advances in technology, most of us have instant access to nearly limitless, quality training and media resources that can enhance what we know about God. Yet, over the centuries, consider how God has used so many uneducated people to perform heroic works of virtue. They actually knew God personally and intimately. God is calling each of us to cultivate that kind of relationship right now, as if our lives depended on it–because they do.

 

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