Fulfilled in Your Hearing
Opening our ears so we may hear and interpret Christ in our lives
Father Ronald Patrick Raab Comments Off on Fulfilled in Your Hearing
In Luke’s Gospel, Christ restores hope for people in poverty and anguish, and even nourishes us sinners who preach this good news. Our attentive ears benefit from Luke’s narrative that the Incarnation of Christ transforms our losses, aches and arrogance. When the Gospel is proclaimed at the celebration of the Eucharist, we encounter the real presence of Christ Jesus. The sacred Word becomes sustenance and salvation for our souls. Throughout this liturgical year, Luke becomes our breadwinner, the source of grace for our people’s hunger and our starvation.
In these opening weeks of Ordinary Time, we are invited to clean out our ears so we may hear and interpret Christ in our lives. Perhaps it is an appropriate time to not only tidy up after the holidays but to take stock of how we listen to Christ and to our people. Listening with compassion is no easy task. Listening with faithfulness to Christ is even more difficult. Many of us face the complexities of leadership and the overwhelming tasks and details of creating community, educating our youth and serving people’s needs. Listening to Christ in our own lives, and to people who rely on us, is no easy way of life.
Every day, we listen to many people desiring our attention. Listening to TikTok or YouTube videos or political commentaries on our phones drains our energy. Even on our days off, we are always on call, feeling the responsibilities of our ministry tug at our conscience. Listening becomes a chore rather than an opportunity to learn how to serve. Listening may demand decisive leadership, and sometimes we shrink from such opportunities.
We suffer from many varieties of hearing loss. As we age, we may suffer ailments leading to physical hearing impairment. Such loss of sound is never easy to deal with, especially when we can no longer hear the voices of people who love us. Hearing loss hinders our conversations and may isolate us in ways we never imagined. We may deny such loss for many years.
We may also experience hearing changes in our life of prayer, even resisting the voice of Christ. Such conflict creates a deep, penetrating hearing impairment in our spiritual lives. After years of active ministry, we may give up hope of hearing something new from Christ Jesus. We may feel our lives are tuned only to our self-sufficiency and control. We may not want to hear God because it will cost us time and energy. Our inability to hear the voice of Christ is manifest in our short attention span, our inner restlessness and our short tempers in our ministry settings. We may also deny our spiritual hearing loss for months or even years in our priesthood.
In my life, listening to God in quiet prayer often threatens me. Sometimes, I am afraid God is going to challenge me to do things I do not want to do. I am often afraid of the very thing that I know gives me life, love itself. I fear letting go of control of my life to allow the beauty of Christ’s voice to offer me the very things I need — forgiveness, love, compassion. I am drawn to listening to the voice of Christ and, at the same time, repelled by such a notion. When I find myself in a state of such resistance, then I know I truly need what God is offering me, the love of Christ. I need to be a real and honest presence to the Real Presence of Christ Jesus.
These initial Sundays in Ordinary Time provide an ear wash for our spiritual lives. Luke’s invitation to sit with Jesus in the Temple and hear him read with authority shows us once again that we need accountability. Listening to Luke’s story of Jesus challenging his disciples to cast a net deeper into the sea must not fall upon deaf ears. Luke’s storytelling reveals our own quest, to find Jesus who truly listens to our weariness, human failures and ailing bodies. Listening refreshes our lives of prayer and invigorates our leadership when we finally surrender to his presence and love. Listening is truly an act of courage when we open up to the sound of Jesus’ voice and acknowledge his ministry among people who most need him.
