Dear Friends,
The term “active listening” would not have appeared in the
language of Jesus’ time, but he certainly did just that. If Jesus had not
been an active listener, there would have been no miracles, no deepening of
faith and community. The understory of the Gospel is that Jesus looked at the
people who came his way and loved them into new life. He listened to how their
lives unfolded, and he took up their healing. On this Sunday between Ascension
and Pentecost, as we have just entered into the summer season, let’s pray that
we will follow Jesus’ lead in this sensitive way of being with people this
summer.
But what are some of the qualities of the active listener?
The true and active listener stops moving, stops reading and
apparently listening while, in fact, their eyes are following something else.
The active listener wants to know more about the person being engaged: his/her
stories of change, growth, humor and sadness, tragedy and moments of rescue.
Only small portions of a person’s story can be revealed in a brief
conversation, but it may be enough to garner a sense of the person. There are
gray areas, ambiguities in human experience. With an active listener, these may
well come into focus.
I find that chance conversations sometimes loosen people’s
memories or desires to talk about something. It is a blessing for both speaker
and listener. People are wary of personal storytelling. Maybe, in times
past, they shared a piece of themselves, only to be shouted at,
disrespected, judged, rendered joyless.
The active listener puts aside his/her own need to tell and
draws out the threads of the other person’s story and abides in that story,
however briefly.
John ends his Gospel with these words: “There are many other
things that Jesus did, but if there were to be described individually, I do not
think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” (John
21.25)
I hope we can believe that many of these things that Jesus
did involved listening to people.
How Jesus was with people is how we, as his followers, are
called to be with people this summer.
~ Sister Joan Sobala
