O God My Mother?

“Teach Me To Listen

Teach me to listen, O God, to those nearest me, my family, my friends, my co-workers. Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear, the message is, ‘Accept the person I am. Listen to me.’

Teach me to listen, my caring God, to those far from me the whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten, the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, to myself. Help me to be less afraid to trust the voice inside– in the deepest side of me.

Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice in busyness and in boredom, in certainty and in doubt, in noise and in silence.

Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen.”

Prayer spoken by Deacon David Palma at a recent St. Bernard’s Institute workshop. Deacon Palma is the Director of Deacon Formation and Deacon Personnel for the Diocese of Rochester.