In our super‑charged world it’s easy to forget that God still speaks — in fact, He speaks most often in the quiet voice of our hearts. As Pope Leo XIV recently reminded young pilgrims, each of us is created “with a purpose and a mission in this life,” and God is calling us all through a still, small voice deep within. (Full text can be found here.)
The trouble is, we don’t shut out the static enough to hear it.
We run from alarm to Zoom call to social post, “listening to music” and letting “our ears [be] flooded constantly with all kinds of digital input,” as the Pope observed. In the din of life, we often miss the gentle voice of God and our own truest desires.
What would it look like to listen again? It might sound simple (for starters, turn off the phone!), but ancient wisdom shows it is harder than it seems.
“Be still, and know that I am God,” says Psalm 46:10. This isn’t about going on a permanent silent retreat, but about choosing to pause.
In silence we “acknowledge God’s presence, and we give Him the opportunity to respond to our prayers,” as writer Francesca Pollio Fenton explained for the Catholic News Agency. When all that chatter of thoughts and notifications disappears, we learn that silence amplifies our inner voice, helping us recognize the nudges of the Holy Spirit.
As Aleteia has previously shared: The Catechism even notes that distractions in prayer “reveal to us what we are attached to” — a helpful reminder that when our phone screen glows more brightly than a statue of the Sacred Heart, something needs to change.
Fostering that listening heart is not only for kids or teachers; it’s for all of us Catholics trying to walk in faith. As St. Paul urges us in Colossians 2:7, we are to “walk in [Christ], being rooted and built up in Him." Imagine your faith as a tree -- without deep roots it topples easily. Regular quiet time is like water and sunlight for our souls.
Have the courage to unplug
The Pope drew this connection too, saying that by listening prayerfully we allow “God’s grace to strengthen [our] faith in Jesus… so that you might more readily share that gift with others."
In practice, this could mean a morning routine with no scrolling, a short prayer-walk without headphones, or simply telling an Alexa/Google “not now” so you can pray. Even Jesus showed us the way: at one point He tells His friends to “come away to a lonely place and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31) so they could pray together in peace.
Importantly, tuning out doesn’t turn our lives off, it turns us on to God’s presence. Pope Leo XIV reminded pilgrims that their trip to Rome -- their Holy Year pilgrimage -- doesn’t end at the airport; it becomes a daily “pilgrimage of discipleship.”
When we live attentively, we carry that grace home.
In other words, the daily grind can become a sacred journey if we listen for the Lord in the silence. So the next time life feels like a construction zone of noise, remember: God still speaks in your quiet heart, and all it takes to hear Him is the courage to unplug, be still, and listen.
From the Holy Father's address
Use this opportunity for listening, for prayer, so that you may hear more clearly God’s voice calling you deep within your hearts.
I would add that today, so often, we lose the ability to listen, to really listen. We listen to music, we have our ears flooded constantly with all kinds of digital input, but sometimes we forget to listen to our own hearts and it’s in our hearts that God speaks to us, that God calls us and invites us to know him better and to live in his love.
And through that listening you might be open to allowing God’s grace to strengthen your faith in Jesus (cf. Col 2:7), so that you might more readily share that gift with others.
