We Must Do 3 Things to Hear God, Says Pope Francis

We must do 3 things to hear God. Pope Francis gave his annual Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia. I always love reading this speech, because it often serves as a type of “State of the Union” Address from the Pope to the governing body of the Church. The Curia is made up of the officials from the various Dicasteries (formerly Congregations) and other organizations based in Vatican City-State.

Pope Francis proposes 3 actions that we need to hear God, along with 3 examples. These three actions are listen, discern, and journey. “The mystery of Christmas fills our hearts with awe – a key word – at an unexpected message: God has come, God is here in our midst, and his light has forever pierced the darkness of the world.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) We face once again the challenge of every year. How do we hear the voice of God? How do we receive this message in such a way that it is not merely a passing communication, but rather something that touches and transforms our hearts. We must do 3 things to hear God: listen, discern, and journey. Pope Francis proposes 3 figures from the Gospel as icons of what it means to do each of these actions.

Listen

Mary is the first icon Pope Francis proposes. Mary is an example of what it means to listen. The Shema of the People of Israel, “Hear, O Israel” (Dt. 6:4) holds a place deep in her heart. She knows what it means to listen to the voice of God.

Listening with the heart entails much more than simply hearing a message or exchanging information; it involves an interior openness that can intuit the desires and needs of others, a relationship that urges us to abandon the patterns and prejudices that at times lead us to pigeonhole those around us. (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023)

Mary has a fundamental openness to the needs of others. So often, we speak in an echo chamber. We surround ourselves with people who parrot the same ideas that are already known and comfortable to us. It takes a challenge from the outside to step beyond our comfort zone. It is hard to integrate new ideas and concepts into our vocabulary and way of thinking. “Sometimes, even when speaking among ourselves, we risk being like ravenous wolves: we can devour the other person’s words, without really listening to them, and then shape them to fit our own ideas and judgements.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023)

Listening and relationship

Listening leads to relationship. Pope Francis expresses frequently the need to listen. To listen to each other is to lay down a firm foundation for future relationships, and to cement old ones. How different would our world be if we learned to listen truly and sincerely!

Pope Francis recalls the Ignatian presupposition from the Spiritual Exercises. We are to assume the good intentions of others and do what we can to save another’s proposition. If it not salvageable, we are to find out his intention. If the intention is bad, we are to correct him charitably.

Discern

John the Baptist is the second icon. John “had to have the humility and courage needed to discern.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) Nobody knows everything. We can have the illusion that we know better than others how something should be done. Discernment helps us have the humility to recognize our own shortcomings and limitations.

“Life is always superior to ideas. We need, then, to practice spiritual discernment, to seek God’s will, to be sensitive to the deeper stirrings of our hearts, and then to assess our possibilities and the decisions that we need to take.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) This is a challenging paragraph.

What does it mean that “life is always superior to ideas?” It is a phrase typical of Pope Francis, somewhat ambiguous and at risk of being misinterpreted.

I think one aspect that is important and that must go along with his intention is that our life is not neat and clean. The human experience is often messy. To stand back and judge everything according to imaginary criteria developed in a bubble would be a mistake. Real-life experience must inform the way we see the world.

Discernment or situation ethics?

Now, a risk could be that someone would take this phrase as a justification for situation ethics.  This is a mode of moral thinking that has plagued Christianity in the past.

I don’t think that is what Pope Francis is trying to do. To practice spiritual discernment means to bring our subjective situation before God, but always taking into account the objective criteria of moral truth. Saint John Paul II spoke about this in Veritatis Splendor. Some people have the tendency to “attempt to adapt the moral norm to one’s own capacities and personal interests, and even in the rejection of the very idea of a norm.” (Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, 105)

Pope Francis is speaking within a tradition including the Bible, the Fathers of the Church and the Holy Fathers that have come before him.

Discernment to do better

Discernment helps us to be “docile to the Holy Spirit, to choose procedures and make decisions based not on worldly criteria, or simply by applying rules, but in accordance with the Gospel.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) Pope Francis is inviting us to take the Gospel seriously. What is different in your life because you believe the Gospel? How should being a believer change the way you act? This is the way Pope Francis challenges us.

Journey

The Magi are the third icon that Pope Francis presents to show the aspect of journey. “They remind us of the importance of journeying. The joy of the Gospel, once it is truly embraced, leads to discipleship, to leaving ourselves behind and setting out towards an encounter with the Lord and with the fullness of life.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) Pope Francis is conscious of his duty to invite us to be disciples. This can sprout from the reflections of the Latin American Bishops in Aparecida, Brazil.

Pope Benedict XVI challenged the bishops to reflect on being “Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ, so that our peoples may have life in him.”

He reminded them that “to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ and to seek life “in him” presupposes being deeply rooted in him.” (Pope Benedict XVI, 13 May 2007)

It is hard to overstate the importance of the resulting Aparecida document on bishops and priests in Latin America.

Importance of Aparecida

Aparecida was not just another event. It had been fifteen years since the last episcopal conference in Santo Domingo. The Latin American church gathered at the site of a Marian apparition in Brazil. The Church reflected once again about its role in the evangelizing of a continent that is changing significantly. (Ernesto Cavassa, 30 October 2013) This is particularly significant for Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis. He was elected by his brother bishops to the task of writing the final document. Pope Francis reminds us that the faith is something that challenges us. This is perhaps one of the more characteristic aspects of his papacy. Aparecida is a challenging, programmatic document. To some extent, the papacy of Pope Francis takes up some of those same challenges.

“Fear, rigidity and monotony make for an immobility that has the apparent advantage of not creating problems – ‘stay put, don’t move’ – but lead us to wander aimlessly within our labyrinths, to the detriment of the service we are called to offer the Church and the whole world.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023)

Spirit of Initiative or Shackled by Fear?

Are we living with a spirit of initiative, or do we allow ourselves to be shackled by fear? Bureaucracy can contribute to rigidity, that kills the spirit of institutions. Monotony can be life-draining and cause people to never do anything worthwhile. These are real problems for the Church. Pope Francis warns against ideologies that “under the guise of good intentions, separate us from reality and prevent us from moving forward.” (Pope Francis, 21 December 2023) How does God want you to move forward? How will you hear God?

We must do 3 things to hear God: listen, discern, and journey.