"Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak” (Jas 1:19)

St. James wrote his exhortation around 60–80 A.D. at about the same time that a Greek philosopher, Epictetus, was quoted as saying: “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” It’s safe to say, St. James has the same basic principle in mind. If God formed the body this way, He must be trying to tell us something. Indeed, Jesus said on a number of occasions: “He who has ears to hear, ought to hear.”

All of us can relate to how difficult it is to listen well. Through our upbringing, our education, our own personal experiences and life choices (and we could add in our media inlet/outlet), we tend to filter what we hear in such a way that by the time someone has finished speaking (and even beforehand) we already have our response or even ‘labeled’ someone as being conservative or liberal, traditional or progressive, etc., and we hear only what we want to hear. 

Our contemporary culture emphasizes dialogue (defined as taking part in a conversation or discussion to resolve a problem), but we sometimes wonder where all the talking really gets us except more entrenched in our own opinions and preferences. And then it is ultimately the largest and/or the loudest group that prevails. Someone surmised that the only thing that ever came out of a committee was a compromise. That’s a rather cynical point of view, but we get the feeling it happens all too often.  

So, what does St. James mean when he exhorts us to “be quick to hear and slow to speak?” On the one hand, we shouldn’t think that it means listening to things that are downright evil or not good. We are free to step away from listening to ideas or opinions that are outright contrary to truth and to our Christian faith. On the other hand, one of the greatest challenges in our day is to open the ears of our hearts and minds to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It takes a certain level of detachment from our own desires, wants, and opinions in order to be ready to listen to His voice. But this is exactly what we are called to do: to discern God’s call, to attune our hearts to Him.

This was the experience of the early Church at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). The Apostles gathered to discuss how to incorporate the gentile converts who did not follow the Mosaic law. It is, in fact, St. James himself, after having listened in silence to Paul, Barnabas and Peter speak about their experience as well as to the Word of God, who recognized the movement of the Holy Spirit and speaks boldly to the assembly (c.f. Acts 15:12-13). Following their dialogue in the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles came to a decision at the Council of Jerusalem and stated with complete confidence: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” (Acts 15:28). This kind of open and conscientious listening to the Holy Spirit guided and continues to guide the Church through the Apostles and their successors.  

One way we could begin to be “quick to hear” is to start to lay the thoughts that come to our minds at the feet of the Lord: “Lord, this is what I think/feel, and I lay it before you.” Then, we should invoke the Holy Spirit, asking what He thinks. We may not hear anything in particular, but it gives Him a chance to enlighten us or move us either to accept or reject something, and to encourage or correct when needed. If Jesus told us: “it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of my Father speaking through you” (Mt 10:20), we can have the confidence that this is possible. 

And this leads us to the second part of St. James’ exhortation: being “slow to speak.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that we should speak slowly but that after having listened to the Holy Spirit we become more deliberate in our speech so that the listener will have the opportunity to receive what the Lord has inspired in us. It is through this authentic dialogue (i.e., an active listening and sharing of the movement of the Holy Spirit) that the Church advances and grows. For this to happen, we must be “quick to hear, slow to speak.”