"Our listening within the heart attunes us to our Beloved. Divine words have a higher frequency than ordinary discourse; they are more subtle and easily overlooked. By listening within the heart we develop the ear of the heart, the inner listening of the soul that can perceive at this higher frequency. Still, such listening requires both attentiveness and discrimination, as it is not always easy to discriminate between the voice of the ego and the voice of our Beloved. But there is a distinct difference: the words of the ego and mind belong to duality; the words of the heart carry the imprint of oneness. In the heart there is no argument, no you and me, just an unfolding oneness. The heart embraces a difficulty, while the ego takes sides.

"Listening, waiting for love's words, turns us away from our own needs to being attentive to His need. In our need we call to our Beloved, and then we wait at the doorway of the heart, listening for an answer. But gradually, imperceptibly, this inner listening becomes more important than our own need. Our questions become fewer, our inner attention grows. Once the Beloved begins to nourish us with His response, the soul's need for companionship is nurtured; the soul is no longer a starving infant crying in the darkness of abandonment.

"We look to Him and He looks to us. Many times God's response to our prayers is so deep or so subtle that we do not notice it — it is not captured by consciousness. But when we are made aware of divine grace then the inner communion of the soul with its Maker is brought into consciousness. Sometimes our Beloved's response is a feeling, an increased awareness, an intuition. Love may open our heart more fully, or touch the heart of another. The response may come to us in the outer world, as a synchronicity that captures our attention, a change of situation or a healing that is given.

"When our Beloved speaks to us, hints to us, then we know we belong to love, and we begin to feel the security of this belonging. Love's response carries the intimacy of this relationship. Even in the times of dryness, when our Beloved does not speak to us, we carry the memory of His words. As St. Teresa says, 'these words do not vanish from the memory for a very long time.' Then, when in His mercy we again hear His words, we know that we are known, not just as part of the great mass of humanity, but as an individual, with our own unique qualities and needs. Our Beloved has come to us and reminded us that we are loved with special care and tenderness.

"We pray to our Beloved who answers us. Knowing that our prayers are heard, we feel the wonder of experiencing that the inner connection of the soul to God exists, not just as an abstract idea, but as a living reality. Being told that God cares for us is very different from experiencing the intimacy and individual nature of this care. The response to our prayers brings into our consciousness, into our daily life, the soul's link to its Beloved. We then no longer believe in God, we know."