“Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear truth in themselves, often for the first time..”
—Rachel Naomi Remen in Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal (Riverhead Books, 1996).
One of my partners at work gave me this book by Rachel Remen, another physician who writes about the spiritual life in the ordinary. I remember the book; but I also remember the kindness of the giver, and offer thanks for him and the times, often very holy, that we had together. I have learned that a book is meaningful to me not only for what is in it but for the person who gave me the book.
I think of Margaret Guenther and her book Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction. The message I keep hearing this Advent is to make part of my Advent discipline a holy listening to those with whom I do not agree. My husband and I, for brief periods of time, listen to a news program that we know will tell a different story than what we are used to hearing. How do those of us who hear so differently share what we have learned and then search together for the truth? I don’t know that answer; but perhaps at least hearing a different story and a variant interpretation as to what is happening can help us understand why others believe what they do.
There is also another setting in which I am trying to be a holy listener. I frequently find myself with people who speak up too often, and sometimes have only what I feel to be boring words to offer. In the past I would cut them off and try to escape from the conversation. During this season I have been trying simply to listen and listen for the Christ within them. One observation is that I have difficulty seeing and hearing Christ in them when I have lost my connection to the Christ within myself. It is the Christ, God, the holy, the Spirit within us that can make that precious contact. I think that understanding is our job. If we stay connected to the God within, we will discern the answers that we may hear in holy listening and enter into relationship with those with whom we have difficulty.
I am holding on to this hope.
Joanna . joannaseibert.com
