“Oh that today you would hear God’s voice! Harden not your hearts”.
Listen to God speaking in the silence of our hearts.
I always experienced and believe that in the silence of the hearts, we hear the voice of God’s loudest. It takes a lot of practice, self-disciple to turn off, let go or stop other voices in this noise filled modern world. Reflecting on these words, Pope Francis questions “When a people, a community, closes its ears and becomes deaf to the Word of God, it seeks other voices, other lords, and it ends up involving idols, the idols which the world, worldliness, and society offer”, we become distant “from the living God."
Each of us today can ask himself - or herself:
- Do I stop to listen to the Word of God?
- Do I take the Bible in my hands and is He talking to me?"
- Has my heart become hardened? Have I distanced myself from the Lord?
- Have I lost my faithfulness to the Lord
- Do I live with the idols that everyday worldliness offers?
and Have I lost the joy of the marvel of the first encounter with Jesus?"
The liturgy invites us to open our hearts to listen to God’s voice. Let us ask for this grace: the grace to listen so that our hearts may not harden. As this year we reflect on the Call to Holiness and at the same time because of the Public health, we are asked to stay home. Let us make the best use of our time. We invite you to read the Bible and spend time alone in reflecting on the word of God. Maybe sometimes, it is good to turn off the cell phones, TV or other noise generating devices that can hinder your conversations with God. Also when we sit down to pray or read the Bible, or do a good work, how many distractions come our way.
Let us not give up but practice. Lets encounter Jesus in reading and listening to Jesus who is speaking to us. Let us spend time in a retreat time with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Free us from anxieties of the world.
Today in the scriptures we hear how Moses gives his testimony of speaking with God, his struggles and hope for the people. St. Paul also advises us to “free us from anxieties of the world.” When we let go and free ourselves of worldly worries, stresses, and concerns then we can as St. Paul says "promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord."
Listening to Jesus is not an easy task as Jesus often can challenge us and change our life, our attitudes and behaviors. In the gospel we heard, the man who was healed from an unclean spirit was in the synagogue listening to Jesus. Healing begins with listening and paying attention to ourselves and to Jesus. By listening as we would say “his inner demons came out” because he knew he was in a holy place and speaking to a holy person. Holiness brings healing. The authority of Jesus comes from being Holy as the man with unclean spirit said : “I know who you are, the Holy one of God.”
Echo God’s voice of love to all
My dear friends, during these difficult days that we are experiencing, we pray and support one another, so that we may not lose sight of Jesus, the Holy one of God. When we center our life on Jesus, we can focus and hope in God’s help. We pray and support those who are struggling with many inner demons of addiction to worldly pleasures that bring harm to themselves and destroy family relationships and public life. We also pray and support those who ministry bringing healing to others in our family and community – those who work many jobs to survive and provide support to their family and back home, those who are working in the hospitals, nursing homes, those who work in the essential services and specially those who work in caring for the poor and the marginalized. Let us listen to God and echo God’s voice of love to all.
There is a story told of an elderly woman who owned a bakery. One day she saw a young skinny boy hungrily looking at the baked goods. Moved with pity and compassion, she approached him and learned about the sudden death of his parents which let him to survive begging. She told him, “come, I will give you a good meal and will see to it that you are sent to school”. Taking the boy she fed him to the fullest which he never had been. Overwhelmed with all that is happening the boy asked the lady, “are you God?” The elderly woman smiling said: “You could say that I am a God’s child.” The little boy replied, “I guessed correctly that I knew you were related to God.”
“Oh that today you would hear God’s voice! Harden not your hearts”.
Reflections by Rev. Wilson Andrade, CSC