Listening in prayer: Do you hear what I hear?

	Patti Christensen

A wife wishes her husband would put the paper down and "really" listen to what she is saying. A husband wishes that his wife would listen and accept his ideas about how to manage the finances. Parents urge their children to "listen to what I tell you to do!" Children wish their parents would give them permission to talk without interruption and just listen and maybe accept some of their thoughts. Siblings listen to each other some of the time, challenging or teasing each other and sometimes, accepting one another.

Advent
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Listening can bring joy or it can bring on negative emotions. Listening well is difficult to practice. Listening and accepting what another is saying is challenging. Listening to God is even more challenging than listening to one another.

Mary had the angel Gabriel bring her God's message. The message she received was unbelievable! It caused her to be "greatly troubled at what was said and she pondered what sort of greeting this might be" (Lk 1:29). Yet Mary accepts graciously what God has planned for her and remember... Mary was a teenager!

We have received the gift of salvation because Mary said yes. She is a role model for families in learning to listen to God and accepting God's will. Imagine the family of Mary and the stress they dealt with ... a pregnant daughter not yet married; a questioning future son-in-law; oppression when they couldn't find a hospitable place to give birth to Jesus; living as refugees in a strange land with strange language and customs; having a child who does not follow the regular ways of life but creates turmoil wherever he goes; the agony of seeing her own son being executed. Mary stands with all poor, oppressed, and lonely women and families. Mary faced many challenges because she was obedient and had said "Yes" to God.

Families face many challenges and how we deal with them can be a test of our faith. It is essential that we find God in the midst of difficult times and have the ability to say "Yes" to God's will for us. The closest we may get to having an angel appear to us and tell us what God wants of us is to imagine that we have heard a faint whisper of angel's wings. God speaks to us through other ways if we but listen.

God uses many ways to reach us as God knows us best and knows how we will respond. In Advent, we are asked to listen for God and go within ourselves to listen for something new that God may be trying to create within us. Then, like Mary, we are asked to accept God's invitation and say "Yes."

When your spouse, children or friends speak to you, listen with all your being because God may be planting a seed for you through them. Read the Bible with an open heart and mind for God may touch your soul as though hearing Sacred Scripture for the first time. Go to God in prayer and sit in silence to hear the voice of God. See with new eyes the beauty of nature and search it for the peace of God and hear God speak. Make haste for the days are numbered and God is coming once again through the baby Jesus. Do you hear it? Do you hear the voice of God? Say "Yes" with your whole being.

(Christensen is the Green Bay Diocese's consultant for Family Ministry. She lives in Menasha and has a degree in communications from UW-Milwaukee and a master's in pastoral studies from St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee.)