The following prayer was composed by John Veltri, S.J., a Canadian spiritual director and expert guide for those presenting the Spiritual Exercises. He died in 2008. May he rest in peace.
Teach me to listen, O God, to those nearest me, my family, my friends, my co-workers.
Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear, the message is, “Accept the person I am. Listen to me.”
Teach me to listen, my caring God, to those far from me– the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten, the cry of the anguished.
Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, to myself. Help me to be less afraid to trust the voice inside — in the deepest part of me.
Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice — in busyness and in boredom, in certainty and doubt, in noise and in silence.
Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen.
Related posts:
Subscribe to
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Maura 01.11.10 at 6:57 am
Beautiful Payer! Perfect for this week.
Tomorrow I meet with a young man whom I have not seen in Religious Ed Classes or church for more than 4 years who e-mailed me this weekend asking if he can list me as his “spiritual advisor” on his eagle scout application. His request assured me that I didn’t need to do anything but be a name on the form and if the scouting council called say I knew him. My first temptation was a flat “no” feeling like to do so would be a lie since I have had no real contact with him and didn’t feel comfortable being just a name on the form. But at my husband’s urging I let the young man know that I would like to meet with him before I give the recommendation. I doubted I’d hear back from him but he responded almost immedeatly and will be meeting with me tomorrow. I will need to keep my ears open to hear how he has been experiencing God in his life and how he feels he lives the Scout promise to do his duty to God. I need to remind myself that Scouting has a different standard than my perception of “practicing catholic” and look for the cracks in the wall where the Light of God may be shining thru.
Mike Cabrera 01.12.10 at 10:43 am
This morning I had breakfast with my friends John and Tom at the deli accross the street from church. We often go there for breakfast after daily mass.
There is a gentleman who regularly has breakfast there with some of his friends. We all know him by sight, but have never formally introduced ourselves.
Today after he finished his breakfast, he lingered a while speaking to the waitress and as he was leaving he stopped by our booth to talk to us. His name is Paul and he told us he just lost his wife of 59 years. We all spoke to him for quite some time; Paul is a very interesting man that has had a very fulfilling life. A big, if not the biggest part of his life is gone and he misses his wife terribly.
We all walked out together and John and Tom excused themselves and went on there way.
It was obvious to me that Paul wanted to continue to talk, so I listened. We have something in common – we both attended Ohio State University, as did our wives. He met his wife in college.
In our walk through this life we sometimes encounter fellow “travelers” that need something as simple as someone to listen to their story. I enjoyed Paul’s story, in fact I liked Paul very much. We will talk again!
Eric 01.12.10 at 11:34 am
Paul, this is at the same time a divine prayer and a warmly, human prayer. (Of course, warm humanity comes from our divine, loving God.)
Maura, I have been praying for your meeting with the young man.
Maura 01.12.10 at 2:09 pm
Eric
Thank you so much for the prayers. We met and I gave him the recommendation he was seeking. I think he is very much searching for God’s presence. He mentioned ” I hope that God exists.” I assured him that I belive he does and invited him to continue to be open to listening for his voice. I believe he very much wants to believe in God to give purpose to his desire to help others but has not yet met the one who is the source of his desire for goodness.
Interestingly his Eagle project was for one of the protestant churches in the community but he didn’t go to them for this recomendation. I’m sure I’ll never know the extent of his journey. All I can do it continue to pray for him and all the others who are seeking
Paul 01.22.10 at 8:51 am
Maura,
I have been preoccupied with many things and didn’t have the psychological space to reply to comments — although I faithfully read them. I am so glad that your meeting with the Eagle scout candidate went as well as it did. He is lucky to have someone as understanding as you as a mentor.
Paul
Paul 01.22.10 at 8:53 am
Mike,
Thanks for sharing your story and thank you for listening to Paul at a time when he most need to be heard. The power of simply listening cannot be underestimated.
Paul
Paul 01.22.10 at 8:53 am
Eric,
Thank you for “keeping the home fires burning” while I have been distracted with many things.
Paul