Take care, then, how you hear

Gospel of the Day (Luke 8:16-18)

No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.

For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.

Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away."

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Reflections:

"Take care, then, how you hear"

Listen in silence. It is because your heart is brimful of a thousand things that you are unable to hear God's voice in it. But as soon as you set about listening to God's voice in a peaceful heart, it becomes full of God. This takes many sacrifices. If we think we want to pray then we have to prepare ourselves for it. Without delay. I am only referring to the first steps towards praying but unless we carry them out with determination we shall never reach the final step, the presence of God.

That is why our training has to be perfect from the start: we begin listening for God's voice in our heart and, in the heart's silence, God begins to speak. Then, out of the fullness of the heart there rises up what the mouth must say. That is where the connection lies. In the silence of the heart God speaks while you have only to listen. Then, once your heart has reached its plenitude because it finds itself filled with God, filled with love, filled with compassion, filled with faith, it falls to your mouth to speak.

Bear in mind that, before speaking, you need to listen and only then, from the depths of a receptive heart, can you speak and be heard by God.