The listening heart

Carmelite spirituality builds upon the central Gospel truth that God loves us first and loves us as we are. The changes that flow from the heart are rooted in the initiative of God’s love. God is at the deepest and most real part of our being, our center. God is always coming to us. We need to get in touch with that inner beauty and foundation of our dignity at our center. What God loves in us is his own image that makes us his children. Growing in awareness of this divine presence within is the primary task of the Listening Heart.

In the parable of the widow and the judge (Lk 18:1-8) the widow wins out against all odds because of her constant pestering of an unconcerned judge. The common interpretation by most reliable Scripture scholars is that we should not lose hope but continue to pray in the midst of the evils of our times.

However, there is a second interpretation that is especially helpful in understanding the Listening Heart. In this scenario God is symbolized by the widow and we are the harsh and stubborn judge. The message is that God’s persistence is summoning us to new life. God relentlessly pleads with us to forsake our self-absorption and move on to a life of humility and service in trusting openness to God’s call.

Self-knowledge

St. Teresa of Avila put it this way in one of her many personal messages from God: “Seek yourself in me.” She came to understand that God accepts us as we are. She pointed out the brokenness of Mary Magdalene, the Canaanite woman and, her favorite, the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus did not send them off to a thirty-day retreat and wait until they were perfect. No, he encountered them as they were and called them amid their weakness and faults. The first step on the journey can only be from where we are. This why self-knowledge must lead us to accepting ourselves as we are, not as we wish we are.

Teresa never tired of speaking about the importance of self-knowledge. This statement from the Interior Castle is a typical of her many pronouncements on self-knowledge.

“Knowing ourselves is something so important that I would not want any relaxation ever in this regard, however high you may have climbed in the heavens. While we are on this earth nothing is more important to us than humility, so I repeat that it is good – indeed very good – to try to enter first into the room where self-knowledge is dealt with rather than fly off to other rooms …In my opinion we shall never completely know ourselves if we do not strive to know God. By gazing at his grandeur, we get in touch with our lowliness; by looking at his purity, we shall see our own filth; by pondering his humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble.” (IC 1,2,9)

Here are five points that help make Teresa’s message on self-knowledge more easily understood in our day.

1. We are locked into false consciousness.
2. This false consciousness creates a world-view that is a gross distortion of reality but a world-view we mistakenly embrace as true.
3. Part of this world-view is based on the power of a society that defines us as a consumer.
4. We are bound by the deep and hidden prejudices aimed at protecting our economic, political, cultural, gender, social and racial privileges to the exclusion and deprivation of others.
5. The ego is in a relentless struggle to avoid any diminishment of its control of our false consciousness. Teresa’s teaching on the third dwelling places is especially forceful in exposing the ego’s power to deceive. This is what we mean by self-absorption.

Peter’s story on that fateful weekend is a marvelous example of this need for self-knowledge. At the supper, Peter said not only would he not deny Jesus, he would die for him if necessary. A few hour later he could not stay awake in the garden. Then he denied Jesus not once but three times.

After the Resurrection, the normal human response to Peter’s failure would expect Jesus to say, “What a waste of time. After three years of teaching, miracles, support and deep companionship, all I get is “I don’t know the man!”

That was not the response of the risen Lord. It was simply “Peace be with you.” This is because God accepts us as he did Peter, in our brokenness and calls us to freedom and the fullness of life on the journey that only can be made one step at a time. We can only begin from where we are.

Listening in Prayer

Our challenge is to accept this loving call of our gracious God. It is no easy task to learn ever so slowly that we do not earn God’s love by our prayer, devotions, sacrifices and especially our good works, no matter how generous they are. We need to listen to learn God’s will. That is one of the main reasons for the constant call of St. Teresa to grow in self-knowledge. The path of self-knowledge gradually opens us to the grandeur of God and the reality of our total dependence on God.

When we are truly open to God’s love this love will change us. Growth in prayer will move us slowly to make a big adjustment. The transition in our prayer is from God doing our will in our constant petitions to us doing God’s will when we learn to listen. That is quite a transition. It happens as we slowly learn that God has a better plan. God really does want our happiness more than we do. Listening in prayer and in life is how we absorb this beautiful and life-changing truth. Our transformation occurs when our prayer is more listening than talking.

We can gain self-knowledge by faithful attentiveness to our center, that deepest and most true part of our being. We are invited to open our lives to the call that is God’s Word. Often this call is a quiet or even a silent whisper. That is why it is essential to listen in the tranquil love of prayer. However, we also need to be ready for surprises. Often, we like to think of God as a favorite old uncle where everything is comfortable and very much at home. However, God is also known to come on at times like an earthquake.

Letting Go of our Idols

In this practice of prayer, there is a non-negotiable element. The heart must turn away from its idols. This growth in detachment is a process that calls us to learn to involve all the hearts: the Longing Hear, the Enslaved Heart and the Listening Heart. Next, we will see that the Troubled Heart is even more critical to the process of self-knowledge and purification that leads to the end of the journey in the Pure Heart.

St. John of the Cross says only when the heart has a better offer can it freely forsake its idols and then, only slowly and over time. This is the task of the mature Christian on the road from the prayer style of petition for one’s own kingdom to the quest for God’s Kingdom. This is the growth in maturity following Jesus. “Letting go and letting God” becomes an ever-expanding part of one’s trip with Jesus to Jerusalem.

This battle with idols is never done. God usually surface in our awareness one or maybe two idols at any given time. We become aware that we need to change by dealing with a specific obstacle that is blocking our growth. After a period of peace, we move on the confront another particular idol. We give up or attachment and addictions one at a time. We all have a long and often unconscious list of non-negotiables. God has a way of bringing the biggest obstacle or “the idol of the day” into play. We most often respond, “I’ll catch you later on that Lord.” God, however, is very patient and never gives up on us.