A few weeks ago, a Saint Matthew parishioner sent me a copy of an article about listening, first printed in Time magazine. Along with the article was a note that she was going to try to do less talking and more listening.
For the past six months, my ability to speak has been seriously compromised by cancer and especially by the collapse of my left lung.
People told me over the years that I had a voice “easy to listen to.” Some spoke of it as “a radio voice.” I talked a lot, sometimes both on the inhale and the exhale. My mother called me “a chatter box.” She told me that often on the streetcar, a person in the seat ahead would turn and say to her “is there anything you can do to keep him from asking so many questions—he talks so much!”
In the past months, I have spoken very little and have listened more than I ever have before. I have listened to people talk and to the sounds of nature. If I am not going to say anything, I am available to hear what is going on around me. I can listen to not only the words spoken, but also what is beneath those words. Sometimes, words hide more than they reveal.
Early church writers said that at the Annunciation, Mary conceived the Second Person of the Trinity through the ear—by listening to the word of the angel.
Fifteen hundred years ago, a man named Benedict told his followers that the secret to the practice of the spiritual life was to listen with the ear of the heart.
In the beginning, people did not read in silence. They read speaking the words quietly—they read with their eyes, their mouths and their ears.
We are instructed to “listen to the Word of God” with an open heart. That is why the ministry of the lector is so important; by attentively listening to the Word of God proclaimed by the lector, the Holy Spirit comes to me. Saint Paul tells us; “faith comes through listening.”
I do believe there are silver linings in every cloud, and one of the silver linings in this cancer is that I was given a dramatic opportunity to listen in a way that I have not listened before.
Father Steve Adrian
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