Daily Meditation: Listening as Spiritual Hospitality

Tuesday March 11, 2014 Listening as Spiritual Hospitality To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations.  True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known.   They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond.  Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings.  The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves.  Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.   We are now sending Weekly Lenten e-reflections. If you'd like to receive these weekly emails, click the "Update Profile/Email Address" link at the bottom of this email or click here and enter your email address. You can also join our Lenten book discussion. Please click here for information. "The Spirit and Practice of Excellence" call-in seminar is happening on March 20th. For more information and to register, please click here. Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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