Would It Be OK If I Just Listened?

Would It Be OK if I Just Listened?

This reflection comes from a powerful memory of long ago. I wasn’t in the best place at the time, and my friend, knowing this, sought me out and just sat beside me. For about 2 hours, nothing was said. Nope, not one word. Which was peculiar because we were usually unstoppable in our conversation.

There were no magic words, no medicine, no mathematical formula to make it all better. The next morning, the same quandaries were still there to stomp on me … but … I did know that someone cared and that they would do whatever it took, for as long as it took, to roll away the boulders.

And inch by inch, together, over literally years, we chose to put our shoulder to the stone each day, until we gradually made progress and a little chink of light could shine through.

I think about that silent meeting a lot in my parish encounters. Usually, we try to fill up spaces and silence with words, sounds and images. In this ‘age of the screen’, we’ve become quite good at it.

But if you asked me when I think I might have been most fruitful, I reckon it would be the times (rare as they are) when I tried very hard not to say anything at all and just listened. The times when I did not rush in with the quick, glib, easy catchphrase but allowed the silence to massage the ache and bruises.

I wonder what would happen if we spoke less and let the ‘other’ just sit alongside us as we sit alongside them.

Would it be OK … if I didn’t say anything, but just sat with you and listened, just being with you, allowing the silence to speak for both of us?