“Listen with the Ear of your Heart” – St. Benedict of Nursia
St. Benedict got the formula right. Listening to the rhythms of one’s heart speaks back what is happening around us, within us, no words need to be spoken!
I enjoy talking. That may come as no surprise to some of you. The period of self-isolation has been quite a challenge at times. I communicate what I’m feeling with words. Living on my own, there’s no one to listen. I’ve found this frustrating at times, very isolating. In the past few weeks, I’ve been educating myself with new modes of communication to fill this void. Zoom, phone conversations, followed by more Zoom has filled this gap to some extent…
Silence is a mode I’ve come to embrace at a slow pace, initially not quite sure how to negotiate my relationship with silence, feeling I need to fill the space with words! It’s taken time to trust that I don’t need to fill the space with words, the space has its own words to speak, and I start to listen.
This extended period of isolation offers a gift. If we choose it, the gift is this: the periods of extended silence offer us a sounding board to listen more deeply than we have before. When we become more aware of the subtleties within we can pass over, we recognize that there are ounces of gold waiting to reveal themselves.
We can’t discount that words can serve the purpose of filling space when the memories are too hard to sit with. Actions, tasks, conversations can serve the purpose of keeping them at bay, to a point.
“Listen with the ear of your heart.” What is it that silence calls out in us? That, of course, will provide any number of answers for whatever number of people are going to read this reflection. I’m not going to check so as to ease my own ego. Perhaps just knowing that there are going to be as many answers as listeners provides us with balm to know we don’t do this on our own.
The silence may seek to say the things which may provide the keys to unlock doors which have been closed for some time. We can’t be anywhere else but be in their company. This is not intended to be a torturous exercise. If pain comes to mind, perhaps it’s the pain which needs care and balm, so that it doesn’t dominate as often.
Joy may come to mind. The silence may speak back a word of affirmation or encouragement which can be the seed of a decision which brings about new life, new growth. Sister Promise is going to offer an Online Quiet Day, perhaps a new experience for most, if not all, of us! This Quiet Day gives us the opportunity to be together in our collective silence. What will the silence speak to us through this experience? We won’t know the answer until the completion of the Quiet Day. If we can’t attend this event, let’s take a moment to remember that in one form or another, we share in the collective experience of silence. Throughout this extended period, let’s don’t lose sight of the opportunity to think deeper and listen closer.
“Listen with the ear of your heart.”
–Father Ryan Bennett
