Listening

 

While he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he replied: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

Listening is a rare virtue.  

We all want to have our say; we want to speak and pass judgment. We feel the urge to prove to our interlocutor that the version of the facts we present is the correct one—the one that comes closest to the Truth.  

Thus we wish to become bearers of Truth, a spring of water from which we can quench the thirst of all those seekers of knowledge who stand before us.  

Yet the Truth does not reside in man, for nothing perfect can ever come forth from something imperfect.  

Therefore, whether we like it or not, we must turn our gaze toward God and ask Him for the light that will guide our steps along the path of the Light, which is His Word of Truth.  

Only by turning our gaze to His Word can we understand what His will is. Otherwise we shall wander after the barren words of a man who cannot save.  

To obey implies knowledge. If I do not know, how can I conform myself to something, or make my own the words I hear and respect the teachings?  

Today we listen to many things on the radio, but how many of them benefit our salvation? How many contribute to our spiritual growth? The same must be said of television and all other forms of communication.  

Certainly, from a cognitive point of view they may help us, for the events of life that occur in the world can become known to us; but from a spiritual point of view, what importance can they have for our growth?  

Apart from those few programs, what memory of God can we keep in our hearts? What morality or teaching can we claim from listening to or watching such programs?  

Everything, therefore, is left to our free will, to the desire and the longing to know God, to love Him, serve Him, and honor Him with our lives.  

For with our tongue we accomplish great deeds in words, yet our actions speak otherwise and contradict us, because it is easier to talk than to act.  

God calls us to be hearers of His Word, but also those who put it into practice—thus doers of His will.  

Not merely knowers, but people who know how to profit from what they hear. Souls not only ready to delight their ears, but who yearn with desire to behave exactly as God wills.  

Therefore let us set aside everything that distracts us and is of no profit for our spiritual growth. We shall take none of these frivolities with us. We shall not be questioned about how a particular film ended or what we think of such-and-such an actress. We shall be asked to give an account of our life and of how hard we strove to please God.  

If we act otherwise, we shall be found naked, stripped bare like a tree in autumn, without a single leaf—or at best with a few dead, withered leaves still hanging from the branch—because we have been unable to make anything green and living grow within us.  

Let us therefore change our way of life, conform ourselves to the Word of Truth, seek to please God and not men, and become accumulators of Grace rather than of earthly goods.  

May everything be done for the glory of God!

Father Ambrose