Teach Me to Listen
Prayer is the means through which we stay in touch with God. In prayer, we ask but more importantly, we listen. However, even when one makes a sincere effort to listen, the voice of God is often drowned by the voice of our passion, distorted by the conflicting responses of our emotions, and confused by our wants and needs.
The prayer below is so simple yet profound in the author’s understanding of God’s will for himself and for others. Often, it helps me to stay focused in the process of discernment and I’d like to offer it to you as we learn to discern God’s will for the each of us, individually and for Chapel Hill.
Teach me to listen, O God,
to those nearest me,
my family, my friends, my co-workers.
Help me to be aware that
no matter what words I hear,
the message is,
“Accept the person I am. Listen to me.”
Teach me to listen, my caring God,
to those far from me –
the whisper of the hopeless,
the plea of the forgotten,
the cry of the anguished.
Teach me to listen, O God my Mother,
to myself.
Help me to be less afraid
to trust the voice inside –
in the deepest part of me.
Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit,
for your voice –
in busyness and in boredom,
in certainty and in doubt,
in noise and in silence.
Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen
– Adapted by John Veltri, SJ
Blessing,
Mai
Comments are closed.