‘‘Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people’’
Today’s liturgical readings emphasize the importance of listening to the voice of God. They invite us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves if we are listening to the voice of God, the word of God in our daily life. Indeed, the first reading taken from the book of the prophet Jeremiah presents the drama of the refusal to listen to the word of God by the chosen people: ‘‘From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.’’ (Jer 7,25-26).
This message is also addressed to us today, who through our baptism are members of the body of Christ, the chosen people of God. We need to ask ourselves whether we are listening to the voice of God, or are we turning our backs on God. Many times, we hear the word of God through Scripture, at Mass, and today even more through social media channels that provide religious contents. Are we really listening to God, or simply hearing Him? Hearing and listening are two very different activities. Listening presupposes understanding and then taking action. Hearing does not. To listen is to deliberately apply the ability to hear. One who listens is thinking about what is heard, what it means, how to respond, and whether to continue to listen or pay attention. That is to say, listening to the voice of God involves hearing and acting on what is heard.
During the Lenten season, on this path to Easter, it is necessary for us to listen to God in order to prepare ourselves to be resurrected with Christ. When we don’t listen to the voice of the Lord, we end up wandering away from Him. We distance ourselves from God, we turn our backs on him, we seek other voices from society, and lose the sense of faithfulness. When we do not listen to God, we enter a confusing situation in which we do not know where God is, where He is not. We could easily slip and misjudge God’s work, attributing it to the devil as was the case in the Gospel when some said about Jesus: ‘‘By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, He drives out demons.” (Lk 11,15).
Each of us is invited today to ask ourselves, am I listening to the voice of God or am I far from God? It is by listening to His voice that we shall be His people and He will be our God. It is by walking in all the ways that He commands us that we may prosper. (Jr 7,23). Am I faithful to the Lord or am I content with what the world wants me to hear?’ Today let us harden not our hearts but ask for the grace to listen to, not just hear, the voice of the Lord.
