Quotes about Listening

Gradually I remembered what I had known all along, which is that church is not a stopping place but a starting place for discerning God's presence in this world. By offering people a place where they may engage the steady practice of listening to divine words and celebrating divine sacraments, church can help people gain a feel for how God shows up—not only in Holy Bibles and Holy Communion but also in near neighbors, mysterious strangers, sliced bread, and grocery store wine.

Maybe someone should start an Opaque Church, where we could learn to give up one kind of vision in hope of another. Instead of wearing name tags, we would touch each other's faces. Instead of looking around to see who's there, we could learn to listen for each other's voices.

Week after week, I was permitted to stand up in special clothes and talk while everyone else sat quietly and listened. Week after week, they heard the gospel filtered through my sensibilities. On Sunday mornings they sang the hymns I had chosen, and on Wednesday evenings they engaged the topics I had picked.

It's amazing if you just listen to people. They tell you all the time things that you can do for them, without even realizing what they're doing. I've learned to take notice of those things and if it's something that I feel God wants me to do, then I try to do that to add joy to their life.

My hearing after 50 years of playing music sometimes isn't too great.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Surely part of loving in this way is trying to understand what another person wants us to understand. I may not understand perfectly and I may not agree, but if I love you I should try to know what it is you wish I could know.

Our Earth is talking to us, and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive.

I also speak Peace to you, for I know your anxious thoughts. Listen to Me! Tune out other voices, so that you can hear Me more clearly. I designed you to dwell in Peace all day, every day.

DO NOT USURP MY ROLE in people's lives, no matter how much you long to help them. Learn from Me: Because I have all authority in heaven and on earth, I could rescue or control anyone at will, yet I wanted them to be free to love Me—or not. Restrain your urges to solve people's problems; instead, use your time and energy to listen to them and pray for them.

Busca la quietud y pon atención a mi Presencia.

STOP WORRYING LONG ENOUGH to hear My voice. I speak softly to you, in the depths of your being. Your mind shuttles back and forth, hither and yon, weaving webs of anxious confusion. As My thoughts rise up within you, they become entangled in those sticky webs of worry. Thus, My voice is muffled, and you hear only "white noise.

Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.