By: Joseph T. Kelley, Ph.D., D.Min.

As part of every morning and evening prayer, devout Jews recite words from the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy. Covering their eyes with their hands, to avoid distraction, they pray: Shema, Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Twice a day, every day, Jews proclaim the Shema. These same words are part of the final prayers of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. And traditionally, ideally, they are the last words before death. Happy those who die with these words on their lips.

We can ask why Jews recite the Shema twice a day. Why is this text enshrined in daily prayer, at the heart of Jewish faith? One response might be that Jews know how hard it is to listen. Listening, really listening to God, and to one another, is difficult. They have learned this from their history. So, God reminds them. God commands them. Repeat every day, twice a day: Shema. Listen, Israel. Hear me and respond. I am speaking to you.

The Catholic Church is in the third year of the current Synod. The topic of this Synod is reflexive: What does it mean to be a synodal Church? The documents of the Synod identify three major characteristics of synodality: communion, participation and mission. All have one dynamic in common: listening. Listening is essential to our communion in Christ. Listening is crucial to our participation in the life of the Church. And listening is vital for our mission to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world today.

In the Preparatory Document for the Synod, the word “listen” appears 24 times. The document identifies the central role of listening in these words: Listening is the first step, but it requires having an open mind and heart, without prejudices. The document reflects on those to whom the universal Church needs to listen, to whom our local churches need to listen. It identifies certain groups such as the laity, especially young people and women, who are often not heard, but whose voice is vital for the future of the Church. It stresses the importance of listening to dedicated members of religious orders, active and contemplative, for the perspectives and wisdom that can enrich all of us. It draws our attention especially to the voices of minorities, the discarded, and the excluded. The document asks that we identify prejudices and stereotypes that can hinder our listening and that we increase our awareness of the social and cultural contexts in which we live, so that we can all improve our listening skills.

This message, the call of the Synod, is a challenging one. We know how hard it can be to listen even to those closest to us: our spouses, our children, members of our extended families, especially the elderly. It is also difficult to listen to anyone whose difference threatens us, be they different because of political belief, personal identity or life choice. It is challenging to listen in a global church, to other believers who can be so different from us by virtue of their language, culture, history and worldview. We know how hard it can be to listen to rising generations of young people, whose experiences, assumptions and expectations can be so different, even jarring. Both as individuals and as communities, we all have worries, fears and anxieties that make it difficult to keep our minds and hearts open, to listen carefully, with loving attention toward each other.

Today we live in a culture of invasive social media and unremitting mainstream media. Both thrive and succeed on disagreement, division and dismissal—these dynamics are crucial for their marketing strategies. Both cultivate and celebrate gossip and conspiracy, suspicion and morbid curiosity—what Saint Augustine called “concupiscence of the eyes.” Both are antithetical to authentic listening. Much of the suspicion about and outright rejection of the Synod and its call to listen is amplified by these media influences, which infect our brains and our hearts and leave us deaf to one another.

The Shema echoes loud and clear from Deuteronomy down the centuries throughout the books of the prophets. How many times do Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the prophets also call the people to hear the Word of the Lord? Isaiah 55:3 “Give ear, and come to me; listen, that you may live. The prophets call the people to listen to God’s will not just in the law of Deuteronomy, but also in Jewish history, in the circumstances and events in the histories of Israel and of Judah. The prophets declare that God is speaking now, in our day, in our circumstances, in our struggles and sufferings. Listen, so that we can discern God’s will for us today. “Listen so that you may live!” 

The Shema reverberates from the books of the Law and the writings of the Prophets into the Gospels and letters of New Testament. When asked by a scribe which commandment was most important, Jesus himself replied with the Shema. “The first [commandment, he said,] is, ‘Hear, O Israel. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone’ (Mark 12:28).” Throughout his ministry, as he taught the crowds day after day, Jesus prophetically implored them, “Let anyone with ears, listen (Matthew 11:15; Luke 14:34).”

At the Transfiguration of the Lord, as told in Matthew’s Gospel, we read: “A voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son. I love him. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him’ (Matthew 17:25).” Listen. Shema. In the Greek, it is the same word in Matthew as in Deuteronomy: ἀκούετε (Dt 6:4 and Mt 17: 5). Listen, says God the Father.

Perhaps the most powerful image of the attentive Christian, listening intimately to the Word of God, is the Apostle John. At the Last Supper, the beloved disciple rested his head on the breast of Jesus, so he could hear the heartbeat of God, so he could feel the breath of God, so he could drink in the mystery of the Eternal Word. In commenting on the image of John at the Last Supper, Saint Augustine wrote, “From that breast he drank in secret; but what he drank in secret, he proclaimed openly, so that all nations might learn … that Jesus was the only Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, co-eternal with the one who begot him….”[i]

John emerges from the Gospel as an image of Christian Shema, of contemplative listening to Christ. Reclining on the breast of Christ, with an ear close to His heart, John serves as a model for all Christians. Contemplative listening not only opens the soul to the abiding divine presence. It also prepares us to lay our heads, so to speak, on the hearts of others, to hear the heart of Christ beating in the breasts of those who long to be heard, to be affirmed and accepted. Making time each day for Christian Shema slowly transforms us, recreates us as sacraments of listening for each other, occasions of grace rather than grief for each other. We can listen more effectively and efficaciously to others, when we make room in our lives Shema. Listening to God in silence prepares us to listen to one another in love.

Saint Augustine offers an insight into the value and the power of listening by connecting listening and love. In his book On the Instruction of Beginners, he introduces the word “co-inhabitation.” By this, he means that when we truly listen to one another, we “dwell in each other.” The other person’s words and ideas become resident in our own mind and heart, helping us better understand our own thinking, as well as theirs, opening new, shared horizons of meaning. When we listen, we teach each other and learn from each other, in a shared space of mutual respect. Listening, Augustine writes, forges a “bond of love” and leads to the “intimacy of friendship.” Listeners become friends.

Listening does not always mean agreement. It does not mean we discard our thoughtful positions or deep convictions. Listening does not make problems and disagreements disappear. True listening means that despite our shortcomings and our sins, and because of our faith, we engage one another, explain and explore our differences. Guided and strengthened by God’s grace, we move forward in a shared search for understanding, judgment and decision. That is synodality, rooted in, emerging from Shema.

In a homily on the Gospel of John, delivered around the year 420, Augustine gives us a compelling description of the Church in Synod, of the Church listening. The bishop told his congregation how to listen to him when he was preaching. “Listen to me questioning, not arguing, seeking more than assuming I know the answer, learning rather than teaching, and in fact in me or through me, you too should be raising questions. The Lord, who is everywhere, is also close. May God listen to the affection of his questioners and give us understanding.”[ii]