What did You say, God?

How do we fail in hearing God? We fail to hear God for many reasons, but here are three reasons. The first reason is the challenge by God to rid ourselves of sin. Before we can share fully in His goodness we must rid ourselves of that which blocks our full communion. It is only when we have a habit of confessing our sins that we are freed to savor more of the Divine. The second reason is the ability to misunderstand or misapply the valid inspiration from God. Because the message is supernatural and is being given to a created being, there is the real possibility that we can fail naturally in our intellect about how to proceed with the message. The third reason is the problem of illuminism; this is becoming so fixated on a truth that we lose the ability to put it into context of the Church’s teaching, in fact, we may foolishly leave the Church because we think we have greater authority. So the problem is not just that we fail to hear God because we allow sin to block us from God, but that we could correctly hear God, but fail to properly understand His intent and meaning, Which will lead us into a wrong action.

In order to hear God correctly we need to know how He speaks to us. Scripture is full of examples of God speaking to individuals and to communities. We need to remember that we will experience God as Divine and not as another human. We should not be expecting a tap on the shoulder or a whisper in our ear. The Catechism tells that that contemplation “is a gift, a grace. (2713)” It is the Supernatural coming into contact with the natural; therefore it is a dynamic event, that elicits a number of responses in us.

Thomas Dubay, in his book Authenticity, outlines three types of communication that come from God:

1. Assisting Enlightenment – This occurs while meditating and it is a lesson taught by a teacher, who is God. This knowledge is usually beyond what is found in books.
2. Independent-Identical Speaking – This is similar to the first, but can come at anytime. There is a very real danger for deception with this method.
3. Dynamic Effective Speaking – This locution from God is active, which means the Grace takes responsibility for producing the desired effect. This is the desired communication because the responsibility belongs with God to make the effect active.

When God speaks creation leaps and is transformed. So when God speaks to us it graced event. Listening to God is a whole body action, we must assist the process repenting of sin and seeking humility. These actions will help us to hear God and allow Grace to better motivate us.

Fr. Dubay said it best:

Discernment is incarnational. It has an inner element and an outer element, not just one or the other. Inspiration of the Holy Spirit does not substitute for faith or hierarchy. Problems arise in history when authorities stifle the Spirit or when people who think themselves led by the Spirit cast aside the hierarchy. Subjectivity demands the direction of objectivity.