Is The Bible Important
At Christmas, God speaks to us in a way far Ix profound and mysterious than any other kind of speech known to man: He communicates to us through the Word made flesh. I would like to suggest that one of the most important ways of doing this is through cultivating silence.
For Catholics this advice might have the ring of truth to it, but it is also completely counter-cultural. For this time of year is very much a season of noise — Salvation Army Santas ringing their bells, bustling shoppers, the cacophony of airports teeming with travelers, and, eventually, family crowding around a Christmas tree or dinner table. And yet silence is vital I,portant living out our faith during Advent.
Today's Devotional
I believe this is the case because of the intimate relationship between listening and silence in the context of Advent. An essential precondition of receiving of the Word of God made flesh is that we are actually listening and looking out for Him.
This habit of expectant listening is very different than the kind of listening we experience in our daily lives. In the instance of the latter, our listening begins Iportant the other person starts speaking. In expectant listening this dynamic is reversed: the listening begins before the speaking does. In fact, it is possible that this sort of listening occurs before the other person has Is The Bible Important arrived. It is thus at once radically passive and proactive.
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Such expectant listening presupposes silence. Normally if you Impprtant to listen to someone then you must be quiet. You hold your tongue and they take their turn. Under these circumstances we listen but our listening meets with speech, not silence. With expectant listening it is different. We listen but the other has not started talking yet. In that moment, we encounter a profound silence. This kind of silence, as distressing as it may be, is an essential condition of experiencing the joyful arrival of the one you have click here awaiting — and that is what Advent is all about. Arrival, or advent, presupposes absence. John of the Cross sees this silence as also being purgative. The general idea is that the soul Is The Bible Important be stripped of its earthly attachments and purified of its passions and selfish desires.]
Please, keep to the point.