And the Award Goes To....

Our world is consumed by “Top Ten,” “Hall of Fame,” and “Best of” lists. Millions of people watch popular shows such as the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Tony Awards, not to mention the Olympics; colleges and universities vie to be on U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of the best educational institutions; a select number of athletes are admitted to their sport’s respective hall of fame annually; and newspapers are full of cultural “best of” lists at year’s end.

Given that St. Benedict says, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way” (RB 4:20), it follows that Benedictine monastics and oblates don’t share the world’s preoccupation with receiving recognition or landing on a “best of” list. However, I recently discovered an exception to the Rule. Every year, the Global Listening Centre compiles a list of the Top 25 Outstanding Women Listeners. Now, being on a list of the top outstanding listeners is an achievement all followers of St. Benedict’s Rule should strive for!

The very first word of the Rule is “Listen,” which indicates its importance in a Benedictine life of prayer, community, hospitality, and discipleship. Although the Global Listening Centre’s most recent list of outstanding women listeners doesn’t include any Benedictine women, those on the list nonetheless are living out Benedictine values of peacebuilding, wise leadership, communal prayer, welcoming the stranger, human rights, care of earth’s resources, education, and artisanship. Listening is key to creating a world where the practice of love of God and love of neighbor leads to peace and fullness of life for all.

St. Benedict quotes Romans 12:10 in saying that monastics “should each try to be the first to show respect to the other.” And because the best way to show respect is to listen, becoming an exceptional listener is something we should all aspire to.

Hearing God's Voice in the Psalms

St. Benedict gives a lot of specific instructions in his Rule about how and when the psalms are to be prayed. To this day, chanting the psalms is the primary form of prayer used by Benedictine communities at Liturgy of the Hours. Why do Benedictines place such an emphasis on praying the psalms?

Sr. Irene Nowell sheds some light on this question in an article from Benedictines magazine:

“Because the psalms are the Word of God, we come to them daily with the same question: What is it that God wants to say to me today through this text? We have a right to expect to hear the voice of God in the psalms — every day. Every day that word will be different — sometimes challenging, sometimes comforting, sometimes the still small sound of silence, sometimes the roar of the devouring fire. Every day, as we listen to the psalms, we listen to the voice of God.”

I confess that my mind often wanders during Morning and Evening Prayer. However, Sr. Irene’s words are a call to attention; if God is going to speak to me today through the psalms, I don’t want to miss what God has to say! If I have the right to expect to hear the voice of God in the psalms, I also have the responsibility to listen to those words of challenge, comfort, instruction, and even the sound of silence, which can be very rich.

The circumstances of some of the psalms may be hard to relate to, because many of us have been blessed in that we have never directly encountered war or been a refugee, for example. There are plenty of people in the world who face those circumstances every day, however, so perhaps in those psalms God is inviting us is to a greater level of compassion.

More often than not, though, the psalms touch on emotions that are common to all humans — awe, gratitude, mourning, jealousy, desire, fear, betrayal, temptation, and pride, to name a few. These feelings touch every aspect of our lives. How good, then, that God helps us navigate these complex emotions by guiding, comforting, and challenging us in the psalms each day.

As St. Benedict says, we just need to listen and incline the ear of our heart.

You Only Learn By Listening

It’s always a pleasure to pick up echoes of St. Benedict’s teachings in unexpected places. 

Nihar Malaviya —the CEO of Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher in the U.S. — grew up in Rajkot, India, and moved to the U.S. when he was 13. He doesn’t come from the Benedictine tradition, but listen to what he said in a recent interview:

“Coming to the country at a young age basically meant I had to completely change my worldview. I went from somewhere where this was very important to somewhere where this completely different set of things was very important. That created in me a respect for looking at different perspectives and the ability to take those in to shape my thinking. I like to learn. And you only learn by listening.”

St. Benedict also valued learning, prescribing set times for the monks in his community to read each day. And like Mr. Malaviya, he knew that you only learn by listening, for the first words of his Rule are “Listen and incline the ear of your heart.” Apparently, St. Benedict took to heart the words of God recorded in scripture regarding the transfiguration of Jesus: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.”

Listening to Jesus calls us to completely change our worldview and transition from a societal regard for wealth, power, status, and self-interest to God’s regard for generosity, humility, service, and love of neighbor. As we listen to Jesus, can we take in his perspectives to shape our thinking and use it as a model for the way we live?

As our Lenten journey continues, may risk entering more deeply into the attentiveness of prayer so we can hear what Jesus is saying to us through Scripture, the Rule of St. Benedict, and our neighbors, as well as in our own heart.