LISTEN WELL

Solemnity of Christ the King

lISTEN WEll

“… Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” – John 18:37

I’m not the greatest listener on the planet. In fact, I blush with embarrassment whenever a friend would thank me for listening patiently as she pours out her heart and soul. Don’t get me wrong — I do listen for the most part. Sometimes, I “tune out” especially when my mind is preoccupied with my own personal concerns or when I’ve heard the same problem replayed for the nth time or when there’s a lot of tasks vying for my attention. But I believe that with constant practice and God’s grace, I’ll become a better listener. That means listening actively with the goal of understanding, learning from, helping and supporting the one I am listening to.

I’m thankful that by God’s grace I’m still able to understand others in spite of my “halflistening” ears. Most of all, I’m thankful that He gives me the grace to listen to His voice speaking to me. It’s hard to explain but once you have a personal relationship with the Lord, you know it’s His voice when you hear it. It leads you to the truth.

I realized, though, that when I listen well to the Lord, I am the one being understood, taught, helped and supported by Him — not the other way around. He’s truly amazing, right?Dina Pecaña

REFLECTION:

“Nature has given us one tongue but two ears. That way we may hear twice as much as we speak.” (Epictetus)

Give me the grace, Father, to listen to Your voice more than my own. For Your words will always lead me to the truth.

living undeR the king Of All

Independence is one of the big catch-cries of today’s age. If that means we should stand alone as self-sufficient individuals in the world and basically look after our own concerns and needs, then this is a fundamentally flawed vision for humanity. God is King of the Universe and today we celebrate that kingship by recognizing that apart from His rule, apart from relationship with Him, we will not be able to develop to the fullest.

People today do not like to think that we have to rely upon others for our own fulfillment, but it is the truth, something that every married couple ought to realize. Any striving for independence apart from God will not result in lasting success — it is only in relationship with God that we can both discover who we really are as individuals created by God in the first place, and reach the potential that lies latent in our being through our efforts guided by the grace of God.

Jesus stands before us as the perfect example of a man who is fulfilled precisely because of His relationship with others, namely the Father and the Spirit, in the Trinity. We are all offered the opportunity of relationship with the Trinity as the means by which we will come to the fullness of our potential as well. This means recognizing and living the truth that I do not stand apart from others but with them on a journey towards eternal life. This is a counter-cultural stand to take in western society today where the search for individualism has been made into the new quest for the Holy Grail. We must avoid the temptation to give ourselves over to such a quest as it will only end in disappointment; it is destined to fail from the start.

I know my words will not be heeded by probably the majority of the world, but then, truth has never been a matter of statistics. We know that Jesus is Lord of All and that truth is enough for me to know that I do not want to stand apart from Him. I want to live under His reign every moment of my life. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

Reflection Question:

Are there areas of my life that I still have to submit to the lordship of Jesus? Why am I hesitating to place them under His rule?

Holy Spirit, help me to surrender every aspect of my life to Jesus and to allow Him to lead me in all that I do.

St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us.