When God examines us, he does not do so more forcefully in the ears of our body than in the secret places of our thoughts, where he alone hears, he alone is heard. ...There are many ways in which God speaks with us. Sometimes he speaks by means of some instrument, such as by a book of the divine Scriptures; he speaks by some element of the world; ... he speaks by lots;... he speaks by a human soul, such as by a prophet; ... he speaks by an angel; ... he speaks by some vocal or sounding creature.... But God also speaks to a person, not outwardly by eyes or ears, but inwardly, in the mind, and he does so in more than one way, as, for example, in dreams, ... or by lifting a mans spirit up, as when Peter while praying saw a vessel let down from the sky full of likenesses of the Gentiles who were to come to believe, or in the mind itself, when someone understands Gods majesty or his will, as when Peter by that very vision came to know what the Lord wanted him to do by reflecting within himself. For no one can recognize this unless inwardly, within him, truth resounds with its silent shout. (Augustine, Sermon 12, 3-4; PL 38, 101-102)

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

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