Fr Jim Cogley
The Bible takes for granted that people can hear the voice of God and that their lives can be transformed as a result. Unfortunately we reached the stage historically that if I were speaking to God it was prayer but if He/She were speaking to me it was classed as a form of neurosis. The Book of Samuel contains a delightful piece about how the young prophet was introduced to the art of listening. His bedroom was in the Temple precincts and one night he heard the Lord calling; Samuel, Samuel. Thinking it was the old priest Eli who was calling he went to him, to be told he hadn’t called. The third time this happened Eli realized that God was calling the boy and if it happened again to say, ‘Speak Lord your servant in listening’. God did speak on so many occasions in the life of His prophet and we are told that Samuel ‘let no word of God fall to the ground.’