Obedience

Jesus' core message was that God is neither a powerless weakling nor a powerful boss, but a lover, whose only desire is to give us what our hearts most desire.  To pray is to listen to that voice of love. That is what obedience is all about.

The word "obedience" comes from the Latin word ob-audire, which means to listen with great attentiveness.  Without listening we become deaf to the voice of love.  The Latin word for deaf is surdus.  To be completely deaf is to be absurdus, yes, absurd. 

When we no longer pray, no longer listen to the voice of love that speaks to us in the moment, our lives become absurd lives in which we are thrown back and forth between the past and the future.

Henri Nouwen