Listening!!!

This is the key word for this weekend! Be sure and listen to the readings because that is where the discipline of listening comes from. Listen to the Mass and focus on everything it brings because the Mass is "our central act of worship!" The Eucharist is the "Source and Summit of our faith!" One of the things that I have told people before is that there is a difference between hearing and listening. When we hear, we have a tendency to let it go in one ear and out the other. When we listen, we truly take the words to heart and put them into practice. The first reading for Mass is a beautiful example of listening. I Samuel 3:3b-10, 19 presents to us Samuel who was in the temple of the Lord with Eli and the ark of God was present. The Lord called out to Samuel and each time he would run to Eli and say, "Here I am. You called me." Eli would respond by saying that it was not him that called so go back to sleep. After the second time, Eli knew it was the Lord calling the youth so he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." When the Lord called again, that is exactly what Samuel said. "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." The servant wants to take the words of the Lord to heart and as the psalmist says, "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will." We are being called to live the will of God in our lives. God speaks to us through the scriptures, prayer, the voices of others and the question is, Are we listening? Let us pray for the grace and discipline to listen because in speaking the Lord will change our lives! Have a blessed weekend!!!