Listen to the Call
by Debbonnaire Kovacs
Tonight I attended the second meeting of our little “monastery of the heart.” This time, after prayer and a song, we read together the introduction to Joan Chittester’s book, and I want to share with you a part of that reading.
As monastics of the heart we must
read the scriptures day in and day out,
till they ring in our ears,
and fill our hearts,
and become the very breath
we breathe. . . .
God is calling us lovingly always,
if we will only stop the noise within us
long enough to hear.
Benedictine spirituality, then,
Is a continuing call to take one more step
on the way back to the God
from whom we have come,
to turn consciously now and here
toward the God
to whom our entire lives
are geared.
The Prologue to Benedict’s Rule
demands of us
that we “Listen.”
Listen to everything.
Because everything in life is important.
Listen with the heart:
with feeling for the other,
with feeling for the Word,
with feeling for the God
who feels for us.
Listen to the Word of God,
the Rule says,
“and faithfully put it into practice.”
Most of all,
know that to seek God
is to find God.
read the scriptures day in and day out,
till they ring in our ears,
and fill our hearts,
and become the very breath
we breathe. . . .
God is calling us lovingly always,
if we will only stop the noise within us
long enough to hear.
Benedictine spirituality, then,
Is a continuing call to take one more step
on the way back to the God
from whom we have come,
to turn consciously now and here
toward the God
to whom our entire lives
are geared.
The Prologue to Benedict’s Rule
demands of us
that we “Listen.”
Listen to everything.
Because everything in life is important.
Listen with the heart:
with feeling for the other,
with feeling for the Word,
with feeling for the God
who feels for us.
Listen to the Word of God,
the Rule says,
“and faithfully put it into practice.”
Most of all,
know that to seek God
is to find God.
One of the main questions that held our attention tonight was, “In what ways can we more intentionally immerse ourselves in the Word of God, ‘until it rings in our ears, fills our hearts, and becomes the very breath we breathe’?”
Of course, there is no one way. There are many, and because we are beings that thrive on variety, that is good. One of the ways I find helpful is to memorize scripture (and then re-memorize it over and over). It does begin to ring after awhile! I'd be interested in other ways.
I, too, am interested in memorization, though it seems to come and go in spells. For some years that was my primary way of simmering in scripture–in fact, I set out to memorize the entire gospel of John, and bogged down in chapters 6 and 7 where Jesus begins preaching at some length about the Bread of Life and so on. It's much easier to remember stories! I did once know all of John 13-17. I trust it's all still in there, somewhere in my murky little brain, but haven't been doing much with memorization the past few years.
My favorite way is to read the passage over several times and then imagine I'm there, in the story, or hearing the lesson, or whatever is applicable. I use all my five senses to be there as clearly as I can, and it's amazing the personal insights I've found this way! This is how I define the biblical mandate to meditate on the Word.