As you may have known from my previous posts, I had taken a retreat a couple of weeks ago to spend some time with the Lord. I needed to sort things out, and the best way to do that was through silence, solitude, and prayer. With all of the stuff that is going on in my life, I needed to stop what I was doing and listen for the voice of the Lord and to find where God was calling me.
And I think that’s the challenge that we all face today. God is persistent in calling us. But just like in today’s reading from Jeremiah, we are a stiff-necked people, and we often turn away from God. We are just so busy with all of the busyness of our lives, and we do not take the time to listen and to hear the voice of God speaking to us. And God does speak to us – constantly! God continues to call us, despite the fact that for the most part, we don’t hear him.
Why are so we hesitant to be silent and to listen for God’s voice? What are we afraid of that prevents us from stopping to listen? Are we afraid that we will be asked to do something that we cannot do? Are we afraid that we will see inside ourselves and realize that we are not living up to our baptismal calling? These are questions that need to asked, but also questions that need to be brought to prayer.
God loves us, and he continues to call us to return to him (our Lenten calling). It is up to us to take the time to listen to his voice. I recommend that we do this in the silence of prayer – to tune out the worldly wants of our society and to truly open our hearts to walk in God’s ways. We need to take the time to be silent in order for us to hear what God wants us to do with our lives.
Take the remainder of this Lent to find your place of peace and solitude, and sit with the Lord and listen. You will be amazed at what you hear.
