listen...

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says: "Prove that you are a good person". Another voice says: "You'd better be ashamed of yourself". There is also a voice that says: "Nobody really cares about you" and one that says: "Be sure to become successful, popular and powerful". But underneath all these often very noisy voices, there is a still small voice that says: "You are my Beloved, my favour rests on you." That's the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort: it requires solitude, silence and a strong determination to listen. That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us "my Beloved".

- Henri Nouwen