“When I call, answer me, O my just God, you who relieve me when I am in distress; have pity on me, and hear my prayer!” I love the music of Taizé. It is a musical prayer – a prayer set to a sweet melody that reaches one’s soul, resonates there and grows into a movement where the lyrics become your words – the song becomes your prayer.  The slow and gentle pace of the music allows one to slow down and enter into the prayer – to be free of thought and mindful of the Divine. The repetition of the words gently but suddenly becomes a call deep within us – a voice that cries out and wants to be heard. “O Lord hear my prayer. O Lord hear my prayer. When I call, answer me. O Lord hear my prayer. O Lord hear my prayer. Come and listen to me.” Someone inside of us wants and needs to be heard. I am thankful that God is such a great listener. He is always patiently listening to us, to our problems, our complaints, our demands. Thank God that he hasn’t grown weary of listening to our compromises, our pleadings, our rules, our bargaining, our “if you give me this, then I will do that” or “if you do this for me, then I will give that to you.” Thank you Lord for not growing tired of our whining, our complaining, our insults, our insubordination, our lack of respect and trust in the Divine. A true relationship, especially one with God, requires mutual sharing and receiving, speaking and listening, hoping and trusting. Our Lord is so gracious and patient as he tries to get a word in during our “conversations” with him to provide an answer to our prayer or to provide a word of encouragement or affirmation. Rather than listening, we interrupt and proceed to tell God what we need, when we need it, why it is important that we have it exactly as we want it. We provide him with instruction on how it needs to be fulfilled and even say who should or should not receive what we are asking for. Thank you Lord for not casting us away from your presence or being rude like us when we grow impatient with one another by saying: “shhhh!, be quiet, would you please listen to me” or worst: “shut up already.” Our Lord is always ready to listen when we call or cry out to him. He truly longs to be with us. Do you long to hear his voice? “Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us; make our hearts burn while you speak to us.”