Listen, Discern, Go Forth: LISTEN (Part I)

The OFS USA National Theme for 2022 to 2025 is "LISTEN, DISCERN, GO FORTH." 

We were inspired by a lecture given by Fr. Thomas Nairn, OFM, who paraphrased Pope John XXIII. Hear his talk in English HERE. 

For the next three weeks, Formation Friday will look at each of these words from our perspective as Catholics and Secular Franciscans.

LISTEN:

What does it mean to listen? It is the time to “see” and “understand.”

When we listen, we not only hear what someone is saying, but we gain an understanding of why they are saying it.

When we think of listening, we often jump immediately to the idea of listening to someone talking.  Stop for a minute. In order to be good Franciscan listeners, we need to prepare ourselves.

• Silence comes first.
• Listen to the Holy Spirit by keeping an open mind and heart in order to hear the whisper of the Spirit.
• Listen to Jesus in Sacred Scripture and to the voices of the Prophets and the chroniclers of his life
• Gaze on the cross of our Lord Jesus. (St. Clare shows us the way, "Gaze, Consider, Contemplate, Imitate.")
• Listen to the voices of St. Francis and St. Clare as they speak to us through their writings and example.
• Secular Franciscans, Listen to the wisdom of our Rule and Constitutions.

NOW we are ready to listen:

• to our brothers and sisters without thinking of our own agendas
• to the signs of the times
• in order to hear cry of the poor and the vulnerable at every stage of life

How do we do this?

• Find times to be alone in prayer—adoration, silent prayer in any quiet spot
• Read Scripture every day.
• Take note of how Jesus listened to his mother at Cana; to the men walking on the road to Emmaus; to the woman at the well; to Martha and Mary; to the Gerasene demoniac; to the Centurion whose servant had died; to Pontius Pilate.
• Make ongoing formation—personally and with the fraternity— a priority by using the writings of Francis and Clare and other Franciscan sources.
• Francis listened to Jesus from the Cross, to the plight of the lepers and the poor, to his brothers, to the Church
• Clare listened to the promptings of the Spirit; to Francis; to her sisters; to the Church.
• Cherish your fraternity as a place to practice listening:
• to one another –at gatherings, on the phone, in written emails or notes.
• Recognize the importance of listening sessions on all levels of Fraternity.

Recognize the Impediments to Listening:

• Interrupting during a group discussion (a good suggestion—use mutual invitation)
• Thinking about my response while the other person is talking
• Being distracted (put down the electronics)
• Not being truly present to the other (perhaps I have already made my decision, and I stop listening. Perhaps I want to solve the other person's problem, and when they don't follow my advice, I lose interest. Perhaps there's "nothing in it” for me.

 Just getting ready to listen takes time, but it's well worth it because it recharges our spiritual life and our relationships.

Questions for discussion or to answer in your journal:

+  What improvements can you make to how you listen to others? Individually? In a group?

+  How can your fraternity be a good place to learn how to listen?

+  In reading Scripture or the writings of Francis and Clare, share how their way of listening             to others can be applied to us.

 Thank you, Chris Leone and the Our Lady of the Angels Regional Executive Council for an excellent discussion on this topic.

Next week we will take a look at discernment.