How do I ‘Hear’ God?
We will never hear God until we learn how to listen. We will never hear God until we learn what His voice sounds like. We will never learn to hear God's voice until we try.
In a world where there is noise, distraction, corruption, turmoil, greed, and straight deception, we must learn to hear God and sort through all the noise and false teaching that surrounds us. Learn to read and pray with Scriptures. There is a great resource on our Parish’s website https://www.stjohnms.com/lectio. To become familiar with the voice of God, I need to become familiar with the way He speaks. I need to hear His word. So where do I find His word? In Sacred Scripture. But how do I know what God is saying to me in particular, by learning to pray with His word, by spending time in silence Meditating and Contemplating God's Holy Word. By practicing Lectio Divina, we become more able at being still, enjoying silence, familiar with the message of God's Holy Word, and we begin to hear His voice directly spoken to us.
More importantly, Samuel did not know that it was God's voice calling him until Eli explained it to him. The world obviously does not teach us how to hear God's voice. How will the people come to understand that God is calling them unless we teach them? Yet we cannot teach them until we have learned. Learn to pray! Young people need to be taught that their feeling of being called to greatness or to service or somethign greater than themselves is God calling. Therefore we need to learn to listen such that we can become teachers of Prayer. Pray today with Samuels story, and as you pray with it ask God what He is calling you to do, who He is calling you to teach, and respond, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."
1 Samuel 3:1-10
Not sure what part of Scripture to pray with? I would recommend the Gospel for the day, or maybe one of the other daily readings. Click the link below to get today’s readings from the USCCB.