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Monday 3rd week of Advent

"Mt 21:23-27"

The chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you a question; and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the multitude; for all hold that John was a prophet." So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

We don't often see someone coming to You, Lord, with a question and going away without an answer, but of course, not everyone was ready to listen. There are people who pray and talk to You, Lord, but do not want to listen to Your Voice for fear that You may say something that can complicate their lives.

Prayer is a dialogue. A dialogue involves listening and talking. But we sometimes spend our prayer time asking for things, venting our problems or just getting distracted with a text or our own thoughts, never giving God time to reply. 'Silence' is an important part of our prayer. That's God's turn to speak. If we spend the whole time talking, God has no time to answer.

A young man made a long trip to visit a wise old priest and asked him to teach him to pray. The old priest lifted his index finger and said, "Listen, my son..." The lad quickly took a notebook from his pocket to start writing down his words. "I'm listening Father. What else?" said the youngster. "There is nothing else. Just listen," replied the priest. To learn to pray, learn to listen. Our prayer is a dialogue where we talk and listen because God listens and talks as well. But remember that God is the main character here: "What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice" (St Teresa of Calcutta).

Mary, Master of Prayer, teach me to converse with God.

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