The Catholic Calendar for Monday, September 24, 2001
Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ezra 1:1-6
Psalm 126:1-6
Luke 8:16-18
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A Reflection on Today's Scripture:
"Take heed then how you hear..."
To whom should we be listening? How should we be listening? How
should we hear? What is Jesus telling us about our attitude?
We should hear God Himself. The incarnate Lord spoke a few words
during His life that we have recorded and we can meditate on. But Our
Precious Lord speaks to each one of us through the Holy Spirit within
us. He continues to speak with the voice of the Holy Mother Church.
He speaks through the voices of those around us.
Unfortunately, many have stopped their ears. I read the other day of
a Benedictine Nun who, while professing to be loyal to the
magisterium disobeyed a direct order not to attend a conference on
the ordination of women. She claimed that the voice of her conscience
was more important than the scandal caused the church by this
deliberate disobedience. Is this what Jesus called us to? Listen and
reject?
Often we are told in the Bible, "He who hears my words and does not
do them, woe to Him." But many of us harden our hearts to things that
we don't wish to hear from God or from His Holy Church. How many
teachings have we rejected, or "nuanced," or simply pretended didn't
exist? Is this the way we are to listen?
No. Jesus wants us to listen with a different attitude. He wants us
to listen as the heirs of all that is and ever will be. We are
Children of the Kingdom of God. We have been given every good thing
and more. That then, is the spirit in which we are to listen, as
children of a loving Father who wishes to bestow on us every
blessing. In gracious humility and quiet waiting, we should open the
word of God and allow it to take root in us.
Take heed then how you hear. Hear with the ears of love, with the
ears of obedience and humility, with the ears of grace that the Lord
Himself bestows upon us. Listening to every word the Lord sends with
this attitude, will be the first step to changing the entire world
around us. We can become instruments of His Grace only when we empty
ourselves and allow His Word to fill us.
- JuandelaCruz, TOC ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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