A Listening Heart

The river this morning was as restless as my own heart...

I receive the same message twice - in different ways...

"Listen to your heart..."

And the implied message:
"Listen to your heart - so that you can listen to Mine..."

Yesterday I received the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School Alumnae Magazine and I got all caught up on reading about old friends and a school I dedicated 12 years of my life to...

I read with great interest an article summarizing a talk that Sr. Mary Berchmans, the former President of Visitation, gave during the Season of Advent on cultivating a listening heart.
Her message was beautiful and I will highlight the six points which she elaborates on...

1. Let's begin by reflecting on Jesus' invitation: "Learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart."

...Our challenge is to live humbly before God and with great gentleness toward our neighbor. Humility before God invites us to acknowledge the gifts with which He has graced us, to thank Him for them and to use them for His greater honor and glory, not for our own self-aggrandizement. Fundamentally it allows God to be God in our lives.

2. A listening heart is a heart that always remains open to God's transforming grace.

The little prayer known as the Direction of Intention helps us to remain open to God's transforming love, his grace.

O my God,
I offer you this day,
I offer you now all the good
that I shall do and I promise
to accept for love of you
all the difficulty which I shall meet.
Help me to conduct myself
during this day
in a manner pleasing to you.

3. A listening hear discerns God's will in the events of life.

4. A listening heart hears God speaking through the people we meet each day.

5. A listening heart enables us to hear the cries of the poor and the disenfranchised.

6. Finally, a listening heart will open itself to truth and goodness on all levels of human life.

A message comes to me twice - the invitation is there - to cultivate more deeply, my listening heart that I may listen to the heart of God...

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