My Daily Meditation:

“Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says, “you’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There is also a voice that says “nobody really cares about you,: and one that says “be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.”

But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small, voice that says, “you are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.

That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us “my Beloved.”

• Henri Nouwen, Bread For the Journey.