Before God gives Moses his mission, to go and lead his people from their slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the promised land, God tells Moses that he knows the plight of his people.
God uses three powerful words: “I have seen… I have heard… I am concerned”. God has listened to his people and now, knowing what they need, responds. There are many ways that God could have responded, but, at this time, God chose to send Moses.
God has observed the situation. God has a real sense of the plight of the Hebrews in Egypt. God responds because God is in touch and has listened attentively.
During Lent, we are being asked to listen more carefully, more intentionally, to God, others and what is in our hearts. We live in a world where information and noise constantly come at us. We hear many things. The invitation extended to us is to consciously disregard the information and noise onslaught and, in Lent, to seek to listen attentively.
The great founder of Western monasticism, St Benedict, begins his monastic rule exhorting monks to learn to listen with the ‘ear of the heart’.
Listening with the heart isn’t easy. It is a difficult and challenging journey. I need to empty my heart of my own agenda, of all that clutters my life to do this. I have to empty my heart of assumptions and prejudices; empty my mind of all the preconceived ideas, answers and solutions I hold onto. It asks me to create a space of inner openness to receive the other, the word, whether that be the
Word of God, the word of friends or the cry of despair from a refugee or abused person. The desert fathers and mothers call that inner openness “purity of heart”.
But, there is more. Listening with the ear of the heart can be a scary experience. As Moses discovers, when God hears, and he listens to God, it can call us to radical change, to a transformation of our limited human perspective. It can urge us to make a real change in our way of being and doing.
Lent invites us to rediscover the importance of listening to God, others and ourselves more profoundly.
Take time today to consider how well you listen to God, others and yourself. Do you find listening a challenge? To whom might Lent be inviting you to listen more intentionally too?
