Fr. Justin Sheehan, OCSO
16th Wednesday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel ends up with Jesus saying, “Whoever has ears ought to hear”, as if having a pair of ears (even young ears) does not necessarily mean that there will be hearing. Any number of us may hear with the hearing of the outward ear, and not hear in the sense of paying attention, much less in the sense of obeying. There are things that are like wax in the ears, making us deaf to the message of life in Jesus Christ, and these need to be counteracted by an effort of will, if we are to listen in the sense of today’ Gospel.
One thing that keeps us from hearing is being busy with other things. There is an old story about St Bernard who had to travel by a lake on his way to a Council. He was so absorbed with his thoughts and the discussions, that after the day’s travel he lifted up his eyes and said, “Where’s the lake?”
Many of us are like that: we go along all our days the banks of the great sea of divine love, and we are so busy thinking about other things, or doing other things, that at the end of the journey we don’t know that we have been traveling by the side of the water of life all day long.
Jesus says to everyone like that, “You ought to hear”. Don’t let your work and your worries take up so much of your attention that you have none to spare for the Word of God, the one thing that most deserves your attention, and most repays it.
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