Several years ago I wrote a homily on these very readings that we have today. I have to admit that it was a temptation to use it again. Homilists sometimes do that: it makes life easier for us and it frees up a little time, but I think what we say ought always to be relevant to where we are now, and certainly 2017, and all the things in life that go along with it, is quite a bit different than where we were several years ago.
Six years past what stood out to me was that our readings for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, contained a message that had to do with warning us against sin and offering a remedy for it—in what ever way we choose to paint missing the mark, which is what sin is, the remedy is to take the big brush of love and cover it up. Specifically cover it up by giving of ourselves to all others in a complete and total way. That’s not a bad message really. I could have repeated it and been just fine and no one here would have ever known that I was guilty of recycling a homily.
However, if I had done that I would have missed out on the great point that living our lives as Christians involves our ability to listen and to hear. Really, anyone who is married knows the importance of listening, and I make this point because I do think that today’s message has to do with love overall. If we love God, and if we love others, we learn to hear and to listen. Following Jesus demands that we hear his voice.
Now if you ask wives whether their husbands have trouble listening, many are going to say they certainly do. I don’t know—some husbands may say their wives don’t listen, but It seems more to be a problem we guys have. I’m aware of it, even in my own life, and it’s something that I’ve counseled couples preparing to marry about. “Learn to listen to each other,” I’ve told them. “It’ll go a long way in your marriage.” Over the years, having had it pointed out that I could do a little better job of listening I came to a realization—a life freeing epiphany even. The problem isn’t so much listening (at least if we’re talking about marriage), rather it’s about paying attention, and that’s is an entirely different thing.
In my experience working as a public school teacher I’ve heard a lot hard-working people make many comments on the topic of paying attention. I’ve even heard the nearly serious suggestion that we put Ritalin salt-licks in our classrooms. Amusing, yes, but not something I hope that we would seriously consider. If I could find a cure for attention problems I’d be a billionaire in no time. The ability to pay attention perfectly, and to listen and hear are two different things. God isn’t so much asking us to pay attention as God is asking us to let things touch our hearts.
Early on in my ministry formation to become a deacon I was told, along with the rest of my cohort, that to be an effective minister I should learn to be a good listener. What today’s message tells each of us, not just deacons, priests, and other ministers, is that we have to learn to let things touch our hearts in a very deep way. We have to let things reach us and move us, and that’s what hearing and listening, even loving others is all about. We can give completely, materially, with time and talent, and if it hasn’t touched our hearts then we haven't yet heard; we haven't yet listened, and this is where I had to depart from my previous conclusion: love has to be about more than giving. Love has to do with hearing others in such a way that it reaches the deepest recesses of our being and moves us in a novel way.
Beyond whatever we might say about what’s involved in being a Christian, beyond the love of churchy things, beyond devotion and even worshipful piety, there’s something required of each one of us. It’s something essential. So essential actually that if I fail to impart it I may have failed the prophet Ezekiel’s admonition, which we heard in the first reading, to dissuade the erring from their way: we have to be moved by others. It’s a sign that we have listened and a sign that we’ve heard them.
Indeed love is demanded of us, but often we take it to mean that we just love everyone with that big brush that covers our sins, but we think we don’t have to listen to everyone. Too often we want to love the ones who are easy to listen to. Too often we want to turn away from those whose cries are most difficult for us. We love insiders but we turn a deaf ear to the outsiders.
It may sound somewhat radical but what following Jesus calls us to do isn’t so much that we love everyone, that we give equally to the rich and powerful in the same manner as we give to the poor and powerless. Rather, it’s that we learn to stand with those who have no one to stand with them. We have to be inventive and creative and find new ways to be for those who have no one to be for them or to speak on their behalf. We must allow their lives to touch ours, and when we do that we will know that we have both listened and heard.
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