Listen...and Hear

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

I am meek and humble of heart. Matthew 11:29

I am going to post a devotional by Fr. James Stephen Behrens this morning. He wrote this for Living Faith, where I get to read my devotional every day. He just wrote it so beautifully that I had to pass it on to you:

Prayer involves listening with the "ears of the heart." It is a listening that invites humility in order to be attuned to voices other than one's own and learn from them. Jesus asks that we learn from Him, that we be meek and humble of heart. From the time we are very young, we first learn by listening. Words that deeply touch us we take to heart. We keep words of love and remember them.

We are asked by Jesus to be like Him, and in prayer, as we listen to the loved stillness of our lives, the peace that kind of prayer brings becomes a part of us. We should rest a bit every day and take that time to hear what is good and gentle around us. The more we listen, the more humble we become- and the more we become what we are longing to hear.

Listening is not one of my strong suits, but I practice every day. It's actually easier with adults than it is with my own children. I have to make a conscious effort not to interrupt them, look them in the eye when they talk to me, and listen, really listen to what they have to say. Sometimes I get so caught up in the dishes and other housework that I'm not fully listening to them. And they can say the darndest things! They have a way of putting the truth out there, even when I don't want to hear it!

Lord, help me to be humble enough to hear what You have to say so I can live my life with You.

Daily Readings:
Exodus 3:13-20 Psalms 105:1, 5, 8-9, 24-27 Matthew 11:28-30