Selective listening because of confirmation bias may fail to understand the intention of the speaker or distort what is being conveyed. Some people don't listen at all and show a rude attitude. The body is in the same space as the person speaking, but the mind and spirit are not—out-of-the-body experiences. When a priest gives a sermon during Mass, there are those whose body is in the church but the mind is somewhere else. Could this situation arise because the priest is not good at preaching? Or is it because believers are not good listeners?
The theme of this year's Communication Sunday message was 'Listen with the ear of the heart'. Listening involves more than simply the sense of hearing. True listening is a foundation of genuine relationships, and foundational to the relationship between God and humanity. In many relationships, however, true communication is lacking, as dialogues end up as competing monologues, where the two sides refuse to listen to one another. This is evident nowadays even in public life, where people often end up "talking past" one another.
In today's social network era, there are 'eavesdropping, spying, and using others for one's own gain. We have a lot of monologues, and conversations, but no communication, talking but not listening. For example, he stressed the need to listen to the migrants if we are to overcome prejudice and alleviate our stubbornness of heart. It was also noted that this refusal to listen can often turn into an attack on others, as humans tend to "close their ears" by running away from uncomfortable relationships, turning their backs on them.
The Pope's discourse mentions the importance of listening at the level of faith. As you can see from the meaning of 'Shema Israel' in Deuteronomy of the Old Testament, which means 'Listen, Israel!', the first thing the people of Israel should do is to listen to God’s word. Coming to the New Testament, the apostle Paul also affirms that "faith comes from hearing" (Romans 10:17). Faith begins by hearing the word of God. Prayer is also a time to listen to God before praying to Him. Faith begins with acknowledging God's initiative and responding to His Word. In the story of Mary and Martha, Mary did the better thing because she listened to Jesus.
The Pope insists that listening is the most important thing in pastoral activity. He describes listening as 'the apostolate of the hearing ear'. It is called "the first act of charity" because, to listen to people, you have to be willing to give part of your time. Yes, The most important act of love of the pastoral worker is realized by listening to the believers by taking time with them and accepting their concerns, anguish, pain, and wounds, living the role of 'wounded healers'.
If you pay attention and listen carefully when someone comes to you and discusses their concerns, we will grow in sympathy for others and also in wisdom with the help of the Holy Spirit always present.
Listening is important for all of us. If we listen to another person's words with the ears of the heart our conversation will be a meeting of hearts.
It is said that 'the power to change the world lies in listening, not eloquence'. It should be borne in mind that mutual listening between brothers and sisters is very important for the necessary communion in walking together towards the kingdom of God.
