When I started my high school teaching experience I had a sign posted in the front of the classroom with the work “listen” in bold letters. Hopefully, it was a reminder to the students to be attentive to my words as well as to the words of other students. The effectiveness of it is shrouded in academic history. However, the idea for the posting came from the Rule of St. Benedict which I was introduced to in my under and graduate studies at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. “Listen” is the opening word of the Rule and was an encouragement to the monks to listen to the Spirit of God with the “ear of the heart.” It signifies not just an intellectual hearing but also, and especially, a deeply spiritual attentiveness to the presence of God in our lives.
My recollection of that memory was prompted by the Lenten message of Pope Leo titled “Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion.” In his opening words, he said that “I would first like to consider the importance of making room for the word through listening (his emphasis). The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship with someone.” The Holy Father goes on to point out how God has listened to the cry of the people and responded with loving and healing power. When we listen to the words of Sacred Scripture in our worship and personal prayer we are made more sensitive to the “cry of the poor” in our everyday lives. As Pope Leo writes: “We must allow God to teach us how to listen as he does. We must recognize that the condition of the poor is a cry that, throughout human history, constantly challenges our lives, societies, political and economic systems, and, not least, the Church.”
If you haven’t made a Lenten resolution yet maybe one would be to examine your listening skills, e.g., how attentive do you listen to the Sacred Scripture readings at religious services? (Hopefully the readers are clear and deliberate.) How attentive do you listen to those whom you love and who love you? And the toughest listening, how do you listen to those whom you don’t like?
At a time when our media outlets are saturated with words, it can be hard to listen. Indeed, not everything is worth listening to. Maybe, we also need to be attentive to the second part of the Pope’s message – i.e., fasting. How do we reduce the consumption of what we listen to? Maybe this Lent is a time to be on a verbal diet!
– Fr. Dennis Lynch
Years ago, when I first came to St. Anthony’s to join the retreat staff, people referred to that ministry as the “preaching ministry.” It was that, but I soon learned that it was just as much a “listening ministry.” I sat and listened to many people, in confession, in directed retreats, in simply being with people who needed to talk. In many persons’ lives there is no one to listen to them. We can do a great service for people if we give them our undivided attention when they would like to talk.
Thank you Father Dennis. Listening has been part of my practice for almost 30 years. When I was in the Spiritual Direction preparation program we had a session on redemptive listening. It stuck with me. In our chaotic world, there is little space for silence, and redemptive listening, we need to make space. How do we sacredly listen to others and be present with them? It’s’s a wonderful practice to adopt, especially during this Lenten season. Thank you for reminding us. Blessings on your Lenten journey as we sacredly listen to others.
Father Zelinski: I like your comments, I never thought about listening from the priest’s perspective before, I guess it was something I always took for granted. Thanks for being a listener. I like the woods around St. Anthony, they are good listeners too and so patient.