O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration
of Your Only Begotten Son
confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witnesses of the Fathers
and wonderfully prefigured our full adoption of Sonship,
grant we pray, to your servants,
that, listening to the voice of your Only beloved Son,
we may merit to become co-heirs with Him.
In making this prayer tangible for during the week, the following reflection questions emerged?
1. What does the feast of the Transfiguration mean to me?
2. How does this feast impact on my life and how might it impact this coming week?
3. What does it mean to me to be a co-heir with Christ?
4. What is the quality of my listening to the voice of Christ in my prayer and in my life?
5. What are the hindrances/blockages that get in the way of my listening to the voice of Christ?
6. What steps will I take during the month of August to work towards removing one of those blockages.
Let us think for a moment what are the qualities required for listening- listening to a friend, listening to a programme on TV/radio or listening to nature?
1. There needs to be a decision/choice to listen. Without this conscious choice to listen, then we may be still hearing aurally but not consciously. The choice to listen changes the nature of our listening.
2. We need to be receptive to what we are hearing. If we listen to a friend with the attitude of we are waiting for them to finish so we can launch into our own monologue, then our friend will not have felt listened to and we have lost an opportunity to be receptive to someone else. Listening is a two way process. We need to listen with our ears and our heart and with our mouth shut. You know the old saying that God gave us 2 ears and one mouth for a reason.
3. We need to let go our own needs/ agendas/thoughts when we truly listen to another person. We need to listen with our heart.
4.We need to tune in to what the person is saying and often what the person is not saying- what is between the lines...body language can give us vital clues but when we are really tuned in, we can pick up what is really being said and felt.
5. We need to suspend our own thoughts/agendas or hypotheses( even when they are accurate) so that we can truly listen. The other person may not be ready to hear what we have to offer- they need at first to be heard and often people who are heard and feel heard make their own decision/choice of what to do. It becomes obvious to them and we do not need to actually say it. We, by listening have given them a path of receptivity to themselves.
When we listen to the voice of God, many people find it frightening because they are not used to being receptive, silencing the noise of life around them to find the quiet inner voice of God within them.
A lot of what I have said about listening above also applies to our listening to the voice of God. Obviously we cannot see God so do not have the benefit of body language but as we come more accustomed to listening to God, we do understand at some level His body language for us.
First there is the choice/decision.. this is crucial. I want to listen to what God wants to say to me. Perhaps God does not want to say something to me but He would like me to be in His presence.
We need to silence the outer chatter, which initially can be tricky if we do not know how. Learning to slow down our breathing and using a phrase or word when the outer chatter pops up in our mind can be most useful as it helps us to refocus and to reaffirm our choice to listen to God and to be in His presence.
Remember listening on a human or God level is a two way process. Often we may have a lot to tell God- He is listening. How much of our conversation with God is us talking and us listening?
The other aspect about this Feast that is important for us is that it gives us hope of future glory- our future glory. We too will be transformed when we get to Heaven.
However, we can start the process now- the decisions we make for good/evil/not so good, the temptations we avoid, the decisions we make to grow in our faith and to live it out with passion and zeal- all of these steps are part of our process of transformation. Sometimes people are given a 180 Degrees transformation but for many people it is a day to day choice in little things that lead to a transformation of equal magnitude.
Sometimes we are given moments of mountain top experience which, like the disciples do not want to come down the mountain- it is wonderful for us to be here. My recent holiday is one such experience which has been a transforming moment for my life- something very precious.
So take a moment to examine your life- what is good/ what needs improving and what needs to change. Make the decision to explore and bring God into your exploration- listen and be receptive to what God is telling you right now for your life.
God truly listens to us so why not give Him a listening ear this week.
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