A Listening Heart

                                 

The context for all we are and do – charism, Spirit Marks, common life, common prayer, study, mission and ministry – is set by our vows, our commitments. Our lay associates witness to us their baptismal vows, and some, their marital vows of faithful loving. Sisters vow the counsels in addition to their baptismal vows, to witness to the entire Church a non-consumerist, wild loving, and obedient life-style in community.

So what is so distinct about vowing the counsel of religious obedience? We all seek to obey the voice of God in our life-styles, right? Indeed.

Yet that voice of God asks different things of different folks. Marital vows ask a listening heart for the needs of the spouse and family. The sister pledges a listening heart for the voice of God coming through her religious community. That means a deep listening to those she has elected into office to influence her. It means listening to the times, and how they cry out to her community for healing.

As it is in every life-style, the obedience asked of religious in our unique life-context might be very costly. It calls us to listen in the wide context of an entire community. It challenges us to bow the stiff neck of our individual ego preferences to where that community is moving. It might call us to consider something we think we cannot do. It might call us to consider what we don’t like or agree with. Make no mistake. Religious obedience in community stretches the soul. If sincerely lived it makes the religiously vowed person big-souled. The individual with her preferences and gifts is part of every consideration, yes, but always in relation to the wider common good.

And there’s the rub. What I want is discerned in the context of what we want and need. In a sense, we vow ourselves publicly to assume a we-consciousness in all areas of our life. We live with a heart that is dilated. It is always open and listening. It would be so simple to do what I want, when I want, as I want, if I want. But to always check out these wants in light of the community is a challenge. As we age, our physical hearing sometimes becomes compromised. But in this obedient listening, age often reveals one who has learned to hear extremely well – with a listening heart.