I have to confess that I am a little bit
deaf. I do not hear as well as I used to, and I have to pay greater attention
when people are talking. Not that I bother that much about this for, as my
brothers tell me, I am able to listen clearly what interests me! My mother use
to tell me that my grandfather used to pray God to make him deaf for he was
very sad at hearing God being offended. He couldn’t stand blaspheming!
I am not really preoccupied with my little
impairment as I can hear well enough. I won’t ask God to make me deaf, though,
like my grandfather did! I would rather ask Him the grace to be able to hear
and listen carefully to His Word (with a capital W), and to His words and
inspirations. Why am I saying all this? Because today’s Bible readings speak
about listening, about being obedient to God’s commands.
Moses tells his people: “Now, Israel, hear
the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may
live.” Obedience, in fact, is about listening carefully, and not just hearing
sounds. Pope Francis reminds us that “the word ‘obey’ comes from Latin and it means
to listen, to hear others. Obeying God is listening to God, having an open
heart to follow the path that God points out to us. Obedience to God is
listening to God and it sets us free”.
Moses goes on to tell the people: “Observe them carefully, for thus will you
give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations”. He is not asking
them to blindly obey the Law, but to observe it. A dictionary will tell us that
to observe means three main things: First, “To be or become aware of something,
especially through careful and directed attention”; second, “To adhere to or
abide by something” and third, “To make a casual remark”. I am sure Moses is
using the verb ‘observe’ in the first two meanings. This would be an
‘intelligent and wise’ way to live. Those who will see people living according
to God’s commands would surely say: “These are truly wise and intelligent
people, and they are free!”
God the Father told St. Catherine of
Siena: “In everything, if you open the eye of the intellect, you will find
shown forth the excellence of this virtue. Everything else should be abandoned
for the sake of obedience.”
Jesus told his disciples: “You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer,
because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called
you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from
my Father” (Jn 15:14-15).
The first sentence might seem like that of
a bully: You are friends if you do what I want! Jesus is no bully! Some time
ago I bought a radio. When I arrived home eager to listen to my favourite
programme, I opened the box and there was a leaflet and on its cover there was
written in bold letters: “Read the instructions first!” I thought I knew how to
use a radio and I did not need instructions, and I burnt my radio! The first
instruction was: check the voltage! I didn’t!
This is what Jesus is saying: “If you want
to live life to the full, read the instructions first!”
Do we read the instructions first and
always? The instructions are given to us through the Law and the Prophets, kept
alive by the community of believers.
People would say that our faith is made up
of a long list of “Do nots”. In fact they are a short list of practical things
we should do if we want to live in a human community, and humans abandon them
at their own risk. Pope Benedict said: “The modern age has spoken of the
liberation of man, of his full autonomy, hence also of the liberation from
obedience to God. Obedience must no longer exist, man is free! He is
autonomous: that is all! However, this autonomy is a lie … if God is not a
reference accessible to man, the consensus of the majority alone remains the
supreme reference … And this consensus we know from the history of the past
century can also be a "consensus in evil". Unfortunately, we can see
this happening in our days.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish
but to fulfil”. To fulfil here means to make us aware of the full liberating
power of the commandments and the teaching of the prophets, past and present.
The Son of God became son of man in order to teach us how to live our lives to
the full. This is the mystery of the Incarnation!
We are Christ’s disciples in our days and
we are asked to keep on telling people, “Please, read the instructions first!
Do not burn your lives! Do not burn the lives of your fellow human beings!”
Pope Benedict said: “Therefore, in
measuring up to this word that ushers in a new history of freedom in the world,
let us pray above all to know God, to know God humbly and truly, and in knowing
God, to learn true obedience which is the root of human freedom”.
Delivered on March
11, 2015, Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent (Readings Dt 4:1, 5-9 and Mt 5:17-19)
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