Ears of faith

Sisters and brothers in Christ, in our CALLED TO BE ONE Marriage Class, we have a session on "Communication & Conflict Resolution", which is taught by Stephen & Laura. They tell the couples that studies show that there are levels of hearing. The first level of hearing is just soundwaves reverberating against the eardrum. The second level of hearing is hearing and repeating what one just heard. The third level of hearing is hearing and understanding what one just heard. Married couples must learn to hear and understand each other to avoid misunderstanding in their relationship and that takes time and practice. This applies to how we hear God's voice in our lives as well.

In today's Gospel, Jesus ends with parable with "Whoever has ears ought to hear." The "ears" our Lord is talking about is our "ear" of faith. Have we trained our ears - through Mass attendance, prayer, adoring our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, receiving him in the Eucharist, etc. - to hear God's voice. Or have we allowed the noise of this world to drown out  God's voice in our lives. Or worst, have we chosen to ignore God when He speaks to us. .S. Lewis once said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. . ." However, are we listening? Are our "ears" of faith like "the path", the "rocky ground", or "the thorns"? If we answer "yes" to any of these, then let us pray and ask the Holy Spirit to form our "ears" of faith to "rich soil" so that we may not only hear God's voice but listen with a loving heart.

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Gospel of the Day

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”