Monday, Third Week of Lent

MONDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Entering the Silence Within

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. Psalm 42:1

Have you ever tried to spend a whole hour doing nothing but listening to the voice that dwells deep in your heart? When there is no radio to listen to, no TV to watch, no book to read, no person to talk to, no project to finish, no phone call to make, how does that make you feel? Often it does no more than make us so aware of how much there is still to do that we haven’t done yet that we decide to leave the fearful silence and go back to work! It is not easy to enter into the silence and reach beyond the many boisterous and demanding voices of our world and to discover there the small intimate voice saying: “You are my beloved Child, on you my favor rests.” Still, if we dare to embrace our solitude and befriend our silence, we will come to know that voice. I do not want to suggest to you that one day you will hear that voice with bodily ears. I am not speaking about a hallucinatory voice, but about a voice that can be heard by the ear of faith, the ear of the inner heart.

Today, I will take a pen and list my excuses for failing to seek time with God. I will reject them and set my priorities in order, resolving to make some devotional moments a part of my life each day.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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