You may have heard the expression, “From your lips to God’s ears!” I would like to propose another expression for the spiritual life: “From our ears to God’s heart.”
Whether it is the trill of the sparrow’s song that ushers in the joy of spring, or the echo of a somber footfall under the weight of life’s sorrow that cries out for the Father’s compassion, just hearing the world around us can become our gift to God.
An Oblate once shared a beautiful reflection with me about how, as he saw the world around him, he offered that as a gift to God, who loves to see His creation through our eyes. Recently, I reflected on how that same truth applies as we listen to the world around us. God chose to become one of us and to let His senses be moved by every breeze, chirp, cough, and crash. Nothing is too mundane to charm the divine sensibility. Realizing this, we can appreciate God’s humility anew—His willingness and His desire to experience human life in and through us.
Perhaps parents can relate to this mystery most intimately. As they watch their young child become mystified by the complexity of the world around them, they themselves once again enjoy the overwhelming richness of every aspect of creation. From my own experience, I know that the joy I experience as I witness a piano student appreciate the finesse of Chopin for the first time is the kind of joy we give to God as we listen to the symphony of creation all around us and allow God to delight in it through our ears. This is God being God in us—living His life in us (Gal. 2:20). I call this practice being “an earpiece for God.” Surely, if God never ceases to savor watching the crimson glow overtake His horizon as the sun sets on another day, so too, He never ceases to delight in hearing the joys, sorrows, complaints, irritations, and long-winded stories of others through our ears!
Sometimes I may sit down to a community dinner and think to myself “Oh, I’ve heard this story 1,000 times.” And yet, all the while God is saying, “I love when you tell that story… Tell it again!” We might grow weary, but God never does! Moments like these become opportunities to let my own preferences recede into the background as I become a mere channel to allow whatever I am hearing pass through me to God as a gift for Him to relish. After all… how much idle chatter does God put up with from me on a daily basis! Shouldn’t I have at least a fraction of that patience as I listen to others? What’s more—how many times has God spoken to me through the world around me, and it took me at least 1,000 times to hear it!
Hearing the world for God is one small way of turning the present moment into a sacrament— that is, a tangible, experiential exchange of love with God. More than mere “mindfulness,” this practice is another instance of what worship really means: giving back to God what He has given us, but enriched with love from a heart touched by the Love that allows this beautiful world to spring into being at every moment. That love continually flows, hopefully, from our ears to God’s heart.
Mr. Matthew Trovato, OSFS
Oblate Seminarian
