A Spiritual Exercise #1 “To Listen to God” with Msgr. John Esseff

Are you frustrated, angry, overwhelmed, especially after the holidays?  Have you been trying to do “good things,” but find yourself hitting a wall in your family, in your workplace, or in your ministry?  When to say “yes” or to say “no,”  when to speak and when to silent, when to stay and when to go,  and so forth. Everything hinges on listening to God and discernment.  Are you operating in the “Light?”

Today, Msgr. Esseff asks that you take an hour to enter into the inner self and to listen to what God wants you to do.  Write down what you hear God say in Psalm 139

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1Lord, thou hast searched me and known me!

2Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;

thou discernest my thoughts from afar.

3Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,

and art acquainted with all my ways.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou dost beset me behind and before,

and layest thy hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high, I cannot attain it.

7Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?

Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

9If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10even there thy hand shall lead me,

and thy right hand shall hold me.

11If I say, “Let only darkness cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12even the darkness is not dark to thee,

the night is bright as the day;

for darkness is as light with thee.

13For thou didst form my inward parts,

thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.

Wonderful are thy works!

Thou knowest me right well;

15my frame was not hidden from thee,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.

16Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;

in thy book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

When I awake, I am still with thee.

19O that thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God,

and that men of blood would depart from me,

20men who maliciously defy thee,

who lift themselves up against thee for evil!

21Do I not hate them that hate thee, O Lord?

And do I not loathe them that rise up against thee?

22I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

24And see if there be any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!

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