Quod veritas intus loquitur sine strepitu.

The Prayer of Listening

The soul echoes Samuel's prayer, asking God to speak and incline the heart to receive His word.

"Speak, Lord, because your servant is listening."^✦¹ "I am your servant; grant me understanding, so that I may know your testimonies."² Incline my heart to the words of my mouth.³ Let your utterance flow like dew — as the children of Israel once said to Moses.^✦⁴ "Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but do not let the Lord speak to us directly, or we might die."^✦⁵ Not so, Lord — that is not how I pray. But rather, with the prophet Samuel, humbly and earnestly I beg you:^✦⁶ "Speak, Lord, because your servant is listening."^✦⁷

God Alone Speaks to the Heart

The soul asks that God, not the prophets, be its teacher, because only He can truly fill the mind with understanding.

Let not Moses speak to me, nor any of the prophets — but rather you, Lord, God, the inspirer and illuminator of all. As for the prophets: you alone, without them, can thoroughly fill me with understanding. But without you, they will accomplish nothing.⁸

The Limits of Human Teaching

Human words can sound and instruct outwardly, but only God gives the Spirit, meaning, and fruitfulness that reach the heart.

Words can indeed sound, but they don't bring the Spirit.⁹ They speak most beautifully, but with you silent they don't reach the heart.¹⁰ They hand down the letters, but you reveal the meaning. They report the mysteries, but you open the understanding of the things signified.¹¹ They publish the commandments, but you help us carry them out.¹² They show the way, but you strengthen us to walk it.¹³ They work only on the outside, but you instruct and illuminate the hearts. They water from without, but you give the fruitfulness. They cry out with words, but you grant understanding to the hearing.

Lest the Word Become Judgment

The soul warns that hearing without inner transformation turns the word into judgment.

So let Moses not speak to me — but you, Lord my God, eternal truth — lest perhaps I die and come to nothing, if I am only warned on the outside and not set ablaze within, lest the word I have heard and not done, known and not loved, believed and not kept, become a word of judgment against me.¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Listens

The soul returns to Samuel's prayer, asking God to speak for consolation, amendment, and His own glory.

"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening, because you have the words of eternal life."¹⁷¹⁸ Speak to me for whatever consolation my soul needs, and for the amendment of my whole life — but to you, for glory and everlasting honor.¹⁹²⁰

Read the original Latin

Loquere Domine, quia audit servus tuus. Servus tuus ego sum, da mihi intellectum, ut sciam testimonia tua. Inclina cor meum in verba oris mei. Fluat ut ros eloquium tuum, dicebant olim filii Israel ad Moysen. Loquere nobis tu, et audiemus; non loquatur Dominus nobis, ne forte moriamur. Non sic, Domine, non sic oro, sed magis cum Samuele propheta humiliter ad disideranter obsecro. Loquere Domine, quia audit servus suus. Non loquatur Moyses mihi, aut aliquis ex Prophetis, sed potius tu loquere, Domine Deus, inspirator et illuminator omnium. Prophetarum, quia tu solus sine eis potes me perfecte imbuere, illi autem sine te nihil proficient.

Possunt quidem verba sonare, sed spiritum non conferunt. Pulcherrime dicunt, sed te tacente cor non accedunt. Litteras tradunt, sed tu sensum aperis. Mysteria referunt, sed tu referas intellectum signatorum. Mandata edunt, sed tu juvas ad perficiendum. Viam ostendunt, sed tu confortas ad ambulandum. Illi foris tantum agunt, sed tu corda instruis, et illuminas. Illi exterius rigant, sed tu fecunditatem donas. Illi clamant verbis, sed tu auditui intelligentiam tribuis.

Non ergo mihi loquatur Moyses, sed tu, Domine Deus meus, æterna veritas, ne forte moriar, et sine fructu efficiar, si fuero tantum foris admonitus, et intus non accensus, ne sit mihi ad judicium verbum auditum, et non factum cognitum nec amatum creditum, et non servatum. Loquere igitur, Domine, quia audit servus tuus: verba enim vitæ æternæ habes. Loquere mihi ad qualemcumque animæ meæ consolationem, et ad totius vitæ meæ emendationem, tibi autem ad gloriam et perpetuum honorem.

Scripture echoes

↩1Sam.3.9 — And Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls to you, then say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
↩Deut.32.2 — May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as showers upon fresh grass, and as raindrops upon tender plants.
↩Exod.20.19 — And they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will listen; but let not God speak with us, lest we die."
↩1Sam.3.9 — And Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls to you, then say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
↩1Sam.3.9 — And Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls to you, then say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Notes

1 ↩Quotation of 1 Samuel 3:9 (Vulgate); cf. 1 Sam 3:10 in some editions.
2 ↩Quotation of Psalm 118:125 (Vulgate 118:125): 'Servus tuus ego sum, da mihi intellectum, ut sciam testimonia tua.'
3 ↩Alludes to Psalm 118:133 (Vulgate): 'Inclina cor meum in testimonia tua,' though here adapted to 'verba oris mei' — a creative reworking by the author.
4 ↩Alludes to Deuteronomy 32:2: 'May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew' (Vulgate: 'fluat ut ros eloquium meum'). The author applies this image to God's speech rather than Moses' teaching.
5 ↩Quotation of Exodus 20:19 (Vulgate), the Israelites' plea to Moses at Sinai.
6 ↩Alludes to 1 Samuel 3:9–10, where Samuel says 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.' The author contrasts the fearful request of Exodus 20:19 with Samuel's willing openness.
7 ↩Quotation of 1 Samuel 3:9 (Vulgate), repeated from the opening of the section. Here the pronoun shifts from 'tuus' to 'suus,' following the Vulgate's own wording.
8 ↩'Imbuere' (imbue, fill) carries the sense of deep, formative instruction. The author affirms that God alone is the true teacher; the prophets are instruments that profit nothing apart from divine action.
9 ↩sed marks a sharp adversative: the outward sound of words is contrasted with the inward gift of the Spirit.
10 ↩te tacente is an ablative absolute: 'you being silent' or 'with you silent.'
11 ↩referas is subjunctive, here rendered as a statement of divine capacity: 'you open' or 'you unfold.'
12 ↩ad perficiendum is a purpose construction: 'toward accomplishing' or 'to carry out.'
13 ↩ad ambulandum is a purpose construction: 'toward walking' or 'to walk.'
14 ↩Vocative apposition: 'æterna veritas' stands in direct address alongside 'Domine Deus meus,' intensifying the solemnity of the plea.
15 ↩accensus (from accendere) carries the sense of being kindled or inflamed interiorly — a devotional image of grace igniting the heart, not mere intellectual awareness.
16 ↩ad judicium verbum auditum: the heard-but-unlived word turns into evidence at judgment. The string of passive participles (auditum, cognitum, amatum, creditum, servatum) builds a cumulative indictment.
17 ↩Direct quotation from 1 Samuel 3:9 (Vulgate). The italic markup in the source confirms scriptural citation. The speaker places himself in the posture of young Samuel.
18 ↩Cf. John 6:68 — Peter's confession that Jesus has the words of eternal life. The Vulgate phrasing here follows 1 Sam 3:9, but the resonance with John 6 is theologically deliberate.
19 ↩emendatio vitæ: a key devotional concept in the Imitation — the ongoing correction and reordering of one's life toward God.
20 ↩The adversative autem marks a turn: the speaker's need is real, but the ultimate purpose of God's speech is God's own glory. The prayer is selfless even in its petition.