HIS PRIVATE NUMBER

 

A friend of mine wants me to go to this certain spine specialist to get my back looked at. (I used to blog about my back pain years ago, but then I got bored with telling you about it, and then the pain subsided anyway.) Well, this friend so insistent about my needing to see this really cool doctor that the other day he emailed me, "The doctor told me to give you his private cellphone number so you can talk to him right away and he'll squeeze you in. Here's his number." 

Yesterday I was reading the writings of the great mystic Benedictine nun, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). (The process to canonize her as a saint got stalled for centuries until her fellow German, Pope Benedict XVI restarted it. She was canonized in May of 2012 and half a year later was declared a Doctor of he Church).I came upon a passage in which she states very matter of factly that God began speaking to her directly through interior voices and visions. She dutifully wrote down what she was told, and published the results.

So, reading about Hildegard's experiences started me thinking about the various ways God has of relating with and communicating with me, and I with God. Like any relationship, this one takes work, of course, and in this case the important effort is centered around contemplative listening. Listening to what? Well, of course there's Sacred Scripture, and the liturgy and sermons. But remember that definition, "Contemplation is a long loving look at reality." The Lord is constantly trying to communicate with me through my daily experiences of loving and being loved, of failure and success, of anger or peacefulness and so on. So, I need to be looking hard, or I might add, listening hard. 

On the other hand, while I'm working hard at contemplative listening to the Lord, it seems that the Lord  loves me so much that he's given me his direct cellphone number. "Call me any time, night or day, and you'll get right through. No receptionist, no being put on hold. When you call I will answer." It takes some faith to really believe the Lord's words to Jeremiah (29:12-13): "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

And, of course, it takes even more faith to believe that the Lord has listened to my prayer if my request doesn't get met. The mystery of unanswered prayer is one of the most troublesome ones for many faithful believers. Maybe I'll try tackling that one in the next post. Keep your phone charged just in case.

"Kneeling in Prayer" - Nadine Rippelmeyer