Dear Disciples of Jesus and
Mary:
From my personal experience
and listening to Fr. James Flanagan speak during the recent International
Assembly; I feel these steps would assist us in listening to the Lord. Then we
can teach others how they should tune their hearts, minds, and souls to listen
to God.
Take 5 minutes twice a day
and spend time in silence. Ask the Holy Spirit to draw you into the depths of
silence. At the beginning it may seem that you are wasting time. We do waste
time on so many others things, why not on God?
During these five minutes
empty your mind, your heart, and your soul of everything. Be attentive to the
Lord and know that He is present, even though you do not feel His presence. As
you do this you will hear a voice speaking, some times it may be as if you were
saying something. When you look at the contents of what was said, you are then
certain it could not have come from you.
The Holy Spirit brings us to
the union with the Most Holy Trinity. He works in a special way through the
evangelical counsels. He first takes us to the poverty of Christ. This is a
great stumbling block because it goes against our security. The obedience is of
relationships. Chastity is a matter of trust in the relationship of purity of
mind, soul, body, and with each other.
Learn to listen to the Holy
Spirit. This is very necessary because He is bringing us to a spiritual
understanding of your very life. Many often go around in circles, because they
have little spiritual understanding. Every time there was a crisis in the
Church, the Church asked the Father for help. The Father would send the Holy
Spirit and bring a specific gift of Jesus to be lived by a Saint. So you have
the gift of the poverty of Jesus in Francis, the work & prayer of Benedict,
the Holy Name of Jesus through Ignatius. All these men had to fight through
this to come to the gift. If the gift of Christ is renewed in us then all is
renewed.
"Remember to spend 5
minutes everyday. After some days you will realize that there is some person
present with you. You will know that He is present as a person. After that you
can begin to ask him. Should I do this? At first he will not answer. But keep
asking. Ask for His blessing and do what you think is best. And then ask His
blessing after you have done the work. You will think that He will never
answer. After some time when you begin to ask, He will say, "No". You
will wonder if someone is around you. All you will hear is No. You will wonder
if He knows any other word. After maybe even after six months you will think He
will say no. Then He will say a quite "Yes". Ask for His blessing and
then He will some times say yes, or no. Be obedient to Him. After six more
months, then you should ask Him, "What would you want me to do?" He
will speak to your heart, mind, or soul. Then He will inspire you and you will
know that it comes from Him because it does not agree with you. He will
communicate with you and love you. Then He will gift himself to you, he will
reveal His love to you and then you are home free. Then you can go right into
communion with the Most Holy Trinity."
(Adapted from
a talk given by Fr. James Flanagan during the Assembly at
With my priestly blessings,
Fr. Santan Pinto SOLT