God Himself is relationship, an eternal exchange of love within the Blessed Trinity. And, we were created in the image and likeness of this eternal exchange of love!!! Thus, we were created for relationship!
Because we are created for relationship, communication is the most important skill in life. We have spent years developing our communication skills by learning how to speak, read and write. But how much training have we had in listening? In other words, how skillful are we at deeply understanding another person by listening attentively with our ears, our eyes, our hearts, and our intuition? Are we seeking first to understand or to be understood? Truth be told, most difficulties we experience in our relationships with others are often rooted in a failure of seeking first to understand through attentive listening.
The same can be said about our relationship with God. If we truly to desire to grow in our relationship with God, we have to grow in our ability to attentively listen in prayer. But how do we attentively listen to God when He does not audibly speak to us? The answer is … discernment!
Discerning Hearts by Fr. Timothy Gallagher is a new audio series offered on FORMED. Fr. Gallagher helps us understand St. Ignatius’s Rules of Discernment by integrating them in the experiences of contemporary people. In doing so, he demonstrates how essential the Rules are for our prayer and daily living. In other words, discernment is key to becoming the person God desires us to be.
We can be certain of this – God is laboring at every moment to be in intimate relationship with us. Discerning Hearts helps to us to become more aware of the ways that God is drawing us to Himself as well as the ways the devil is trying to pull us away. If you desire to give greater priority to your relationship with God and others, you’ll love this series.
