Love Silence

St. Isaac the Syrian: “Love silence above all things, because it brings you near to fruit that the tongue cannot express. First let us force ourselves to be silent, and from out of this silence something is born that leads us into silence itself.”

I was at mass during the week recently and as I do sometimes in the early morning, I strained to listen to the homily. This one seemed to keep me awake. “What voice do you listen to?” was the question. As the priest elaborated on his point, he referenced the readings during the Easter season which come mainly from the Acts of the Apostles. The early Church needed to understand many things after the Ascension and descent of the Holy Spirit. This last week, upon the election of Pope Leo XIV, the conclave needed to listen to the Holy spirit also. During the final mass before the conclave, the president Cardinal Battista Re reminded the College that they needed to listen to God’s heart. It was a tall order, and for me it is always difficult to bend my will to His.

“God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! Pope Leo XIV

With these words, the new Pope reminded us that we are all loved by God. It is easier to listen when we know we are being loved. Recently, I read about a potential saint – Venerable Madeleine Delbrel. She lived her life in a tumultuous time in history – maybe every period of history is difficult. She became an agnostic or atheist (if there is much difference) by the age of 20 until a group of friends aided in her dramatic conversion to Catholicism. She started a house with some friends and worked with and for those in need. She listened and she understood that those who did not believe needed a witness. Another saint, Francis de Sales, in Dijon, France, saw a widow listening closely to his sermon. Apparently, he had already seen this woman in a dream. She was Jane de Chantal, a dedicated Catholic who had recently lost her husband. Listening intently to his sermon, they became friends, and both continued on the road of the spiritual life and to sainthood.

Love seeks the desert because the desert is where man is handed over to God, stripped bare of his country, his friends, his fields, his home. In the desert, a person neither possesses what he loves, nor is he possessed by those who love him; he is totally submitted to God in an immense and intimate encounter. Venerable Madeleine Delbrel

Sometimes, I notice people who have difficulty hearing. How do they listen? We listen when we pay attention to actions, we see others who love us, who show us what love is and how we can become great for God. We cannot stay stuck in our soup, our obstacles and our objections. We likely have many of these, but as our new Pope Leo said, “God will prevail.” He always does. We only need to trust, to pay attention, to seek to understand. When the time is right for Christ, His hand will move us, just like St. Jane and Madeleine Delbrel. I am sure there are many more examples. We only need to pay attention.

St. Benedict: “Listen with the ear of your heart.”

St. Francis de Sales: “In prayer, more is accomplished by listening than by talking.”