The words "listen" and "silent" are made of the same letters.
Not only do they have the same letters, they have the same dynamics - in order to listen, you have to be silent.
It is said that silence is the language of God. If we want to know what God is saying to us, then we need to enter into that silence in order to listen.
There are two words to describe the ministry of Jesus - busy and noisy.
As we heard in the gospel passage, after leaving the synagogue, Jesus went on to the house of Simon Peter and Andrew and healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law.
Then in the evening, they brought to Him all who were sick and those possessed by devils and He cured many and cast out many devils.
But in the morning, long before dawn, He got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.
Jesus needed to pray in order to rest His mind and silence His heart, so that He can listen to His Father.
With that, He knew what He had to do in order to accomplish His Father's will.
In the 1st reading, Eli slowly came to understand that it was the Lord who was calling Samuel. It was from his own listening to the Lord that he taught Samuel how to respond to the Lord and to listen.
Yes, in order to listen, we have to be silent. In the silence of the mind and heart, we will be able to hear the Lord speaking to us.