Are You Listening

Friday’s mass struck me.  It began with the opening hymn words:

“Here I am, Lord, is it I Lord? 
I have heard You calling in the night …”

The first reading was Acts9:1-20, where Saul is going to Damascus to arrest Christians, until he was struck to the ground and blinded, and he spoke to the bright light before him: “Who are you, sir?”  Needless to say, like the opening hymn, Saul heard the Lord calling --- but in a way that he could not rationalize away.  This was real.  This was God, calling to him. 

Perhaps we need stop here and ask, very seriously ask, of ourselves:  Do I need to be struck blind to listen to God?  No, even that perspective is worded wrong; we need to stop always asking ourselves what to do but ask God.

The Gospel reading at mass was from John6:52-59, where Jesus says: “whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  There was a substitute priest at mass, and as he spoke his sermon, he said: “It gives me great consolation that at 88, I became who Jesus wanted me to be.  I often act as a marriage counselor, and I tell couples no one is perfect, but Jesus in our life can transform us.  My prayer is to help me read the signs you have given me.”  Prayer came first for him, before counseling anyone.

And, as we received the Eucharist, His Flesh and Blood, the choir sang: “Open my eyes, Lord, help me to see your face.  Open my ears, Lord, help me to hear your word.”

A Bible study group I participate in is considering a change in focus or format, and we’re praying about it.  Last week we listened to Fr. John Riccardo’s interview on the Lila Rose show about 2 months ago, when he spoke about “how to hear God’s word in your life.”  And I recently received copies of Bishop Robert Barron’s new book: What do their Lives Demand, about Christian persecution today.  Both Fr Riccardo and Bishop Barron said: Start with prayer and then listen.

All these events seem to be saying the same thing: Are you listening?

I spent most of my early years “doing what is right”, as I believed it to be.  I cared for my neighbor as commanded --- if it weren’t too inconvenient.  But in living those years well, I did not often ask, sincerely: What is Your will, Lord?  If those were good years, oh, oh, how much smore wonderful they could have been.

There was a young woman once, who also did what she knew was right and commanded by God.  Her whole life was planned out before her.  All would be as she wanted --- and then:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him 
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.

 --- The Magnificat