STAY: Stay with the Spirit

How does each of us hear them in his own
native language? Acts of the Apostles 2:8

Does God speak your language? Do you
hear his voice? Do you recognize the sound
of it? Do you wish you had a translator? The
most common questions we ask in the spiritual
life are: How do I know if God is speaking to
me? And if he is speaking, how can I be sure
that I am hearing him correctly?

The first step in hearing clearly is to trust
that God really is speaking to you. It's amazing
how many people are tone deaf simply because
they have convinced themselves that God either
isn't addressing them, or that God could not
possibly be speaking in the everyday language
of ordinary life. We have been conditioned to
think that God only (or primarily) speaks "church
talk," or pious, religious talk - the language of
hymns and prayers.

The great miracle of Pentecost is that people
from many different cultures all heard the
apostles speaking to them in their own native
tongues. Wouldn't it be nice if God spoke
exactly the "language" of our lives? The
language of someone struggling with a tough
or painful relationship; the language of
someone not sure about the direction of their
future; the language of someone angry with or
confused about the mission and attitudes of
the Church. What's your language? What
tongue are you speaking these days?

Whatever that language is - you can be sure
of this: God is speaking it loud and clear. The
miracle of Pentecost is not locked away in the
history of 2000 years ago. The challenge is to
learn how to listen for it and, even more
importantly, to learn how to pick it out from
amid all the other languages that are screaming
in your ears.

Here's a simple beginning: identify that thing
(person, situation, relationship, etc.) in your life
that is most frustrating or difficult for you. If that's
how things are right now, what is your desire for
how they should be? What do you want? Don't
let yourself off the hook by saying, "I'm so confused,
I don't even know what I want!" If you can identify
what is painful, then you are already beginning to
identify what a healing alternative might look like
for you. Where is God's voice in that? His voice
is the one that's telling you that things can be better
than they are; the voice that's telling you not to
settle for despair or hopelessness. Taking the power
of that voice and using it to make real change is the
work of prayer, spiritual direction, and trust-filled
relationships with others. But hearing the voice is
an important beginning. There is no sign language
in the spiritual life.