Receiving the message

In our modern age there is often much angst about communication. When we have multiple means of staying in touch via Email, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Websites, Radio and TV it is a struggle to see whether it the problem is actually with the amount of communication channels as the ability to receive the message. I think this is part of the struggle that we face in our current age, it is not that people are not trying to communicate but that too much information comes our way and we start to filter out what we do not think is immediately relevant to us. Our lives become ruled by sound bites or by other peoples opinions. There is a need to discover how we process the information that is relevant to us without becoming overwhelmed and being isolated in our own private realm. There is a need to listen to what is important rather than what seems most urgent. We need to be a people who pray and open our hearts to the people around us. I think the problem with the information we receive is not that it is broadcast but often we fear that it will pull us in too many directions at once. Often we can blame the people who produce the information for not providing us with a way through the forest of opinion that has grown about us. How can we stay in touch and not be overwhelmed. I think that at the end of each day we need to look back at what brought us life and hope. What led us away from our central mission and reason for being. What can we do tomorrow to bring us back. I believe that this examen prayer becomes more vital each day to allow us to listen to the voice of God which is spoken to us each day and whose message we need to receive.