One: Listening is not an act of the ear, listening is an act of the heart.

Many: In these times when so much speaks: outrage, anger, disillusionment.

One: Rage is a constant cry. Derision has found his voice. The despair of the fair and faithful speaks fast and often. The whisper of despair grows into a keening lament.

Many: Open our hearts to the real fears of those who have known hate because they are our guides to its insidious expansiveness.

One: Open our memories to those ancestors of our spirits who were love-seekers, peace-makers, truth-guiders, system-questioners. And listen, because—

Many: Listening is an act of our hearts.

One: Do not ignore the soul pain of the ones who move through the hardest nights, who face the denial of their rights and the desecration of their humanity. Do not forget those too dispossessed of a language of mastery and the countless forms of life who do not count humanity as their family and yet who are within our larger circle of interdependence.

Many: Open our hearts to the true threats that many feel.

One: Open our minds to the anguish of those who need accompaniment.

Many: Open our memories to those who came before us and taught us how to create new forms of love out of the old worn patterns.

One: And listen, because—

Many: Listening is an act of our hearts.
Listening is an act of our hearts.