Spiritual message from the Belgian-Swiss brochure 2020-2021

“Écoute” (Listen)

"Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord" (Deuteronomy 6,4) It is through these words that the Israelite believer expresses his faith. In the New Testament, Jesus takes this text in the form: "You will love the Lord your God" and links it to the Leviticus "You will love the neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). This confession of faith determines the central axes of spiritual life: listening, loving and transmitting. we could say: see, judge and act.

Among the five senses, hearing is the one that allows the perception of sounds: hearing the cry of children or the sound of machines does not require much attention. Listening is a more demanding approach and can mean understanding, discovering, observing. To admire a landscape is to listen to nature. Taking the friend in distress in his arms is a gesture of listening. The deaf and hearing person, lip-reading, puts himself in an attitude of listening.

Our intelligence and skills are not enough to judge or understand a person. Christian listening and welcoming are benevolent and go through the heart. One could paraphrase the Little Prince and say, "We only listen with the heart, the essential is inaudible to the ear."

In the Scriptures, God's maternal attitude towards men is characterized by his ability to listen. The image on the front page perfectly illustrates this year's theme "Listen." With his hand raised to his ear, St Benedict teaches us that listening to God, others and oneself makes love grow in the world. It allows us to contribute our stone to the construction of the Kingdom where everyone will be loved for what he is.

May we discover in all our brothers and sisters the presence of God!

Francis Zufferey, for the Belgian-Swiss Team of Ascending Life

(Francis Zufferey is the Spiritual Advisor for French-speaking Switzerland)