Mark: Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
Within the past few months, I've noticed, that my hearing is not picking up all the words someone speaks. The other day, a friend said, "This guy was yelling about a colt."
To which I responded something about the colt perhaps getting out of a pasture. She looked at me in a puzzled sort of way, chuckled, and said, "Cult."
"Ahhh, a very different word indeed." We laughed. I think I need to get my hearing checked.
On the other hand, God's voice, that small inner voice, can be heard only when we quiet down enough to hear it. Sometimes I've said to God, "Speak louder," to which I've heard, "Slow down. Get quieter."
Of course, that comes in all sorts of ways; meditation, prayer, going to Mass, catching a bug of some sort, getting laid up for some reason or another, getting stuck in traffic. All opportunities to slow down, get quiet, and hear God's voice.
Nowadays, I try to practice meditation every day. It doesn't always happen, but whether I meditate or not, I find myself praying for God's presence in everything; driving over the pass, taking the dogs for a walk, setting an intention for the day, before making chocolate, writing a blog, posting on social media, before a meal, before writing an email, or making a phone call.
Notice Mark doesn't say, "Anyone with good hearing, listen." He says, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen." To me, he means everyone. We all have the opportunity to listen (same letters as silent), the question is whether or not we choose to hear.
May we all take the time to listen to God's voice in our lives.
April 23
Matthew: Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Mark: Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
Luke: He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”
John: But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
Acts: After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
Romans: Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone,
Galatians: One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.
Ephesians: and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Philippians: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.