It’s difficult in today’s modern world to hear the voice of God through the cacophony of sound and information we are constantly bombarded with. In today’s first reading, we see the Jewish response recorded by the Prophet Baruch. As I read it, I can almost hear the crying voice of the people in lamentation:
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us. [….]we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
In the Gospel, we see a set of towns that not only should have heard the voice of God but were seeing visible miracles of His presence. They still continued to do just as the Israelites did, ignoring the voice of God, ignoring the call for repentance. It seems to be a human thing, doesn’t it? In fact, you could probably write this quote about the modern world today and it would be true in most of the world:
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.
On this feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, it’s good to remember how he responded to the things that got in the way of him hearing the voice of the Lord. When his father reprimanded him for distributing a great deal of their wealth to the poor, instead of simply recanting and restoring the wealth, Saint Francis ripped his clothes off. Giving even that which he wore back to his earthly dad, he turned to the Bishop and gave his life to the Church in service of Christ and the poor. It’s kind of a radical departure from the status quo. Am I saying we need to sell all we have and go off into the wilderness to live from whatever comes our way? I don’t think God is calling all of us to that (but it probably wouldn’t hurt 😉 )
What I am saying is that we need to start clearing our life of all the noise that keeps us from being the Christians we are called to be. That means putting God first in everything. It’s hard to do, especially when we are focused just on the sin in other people’s lives. Sin is important, don’t mistake what I am saying here. I think something I have been meditating on lately is that while it’s important people hear God’s voice and listen to His precepts, we also have to try and see Jesus in each and every person we serve. Often that’s when we find our “them.”
Saint Francis had a “them” as well. He had an aversion to the people with leprosy. They disgusted him, made him sick to his stomach. Then one day he saw Jesus in one of “them.” He got off his horse, walked up to the man, kissed his sores. Then he switched clothes with him. His “them” became Him. How do we get our minds into that state? How do we look at those who have sinned, especially those in a heinous way that we can never forgive? Last night I read this quote, and I want to leave it with you to meditate on in honor of Saint Francis, that we too might change our optics… to turn all of our thems, into visions of Him. Then we can begin to hear His voice speaking to us in every moment because He is right in front of us.
“I saw too the reverence that everyone must have for a sinner; instead of condoning his sin, which is in reality his utmost sorrow, one must comfort Christ who is suffering in him. And this reverence must be paid even to those sinners whose souls seem to be dead, because it is Christ, who is the life of the soul, who is dead in them; they are His tombs, and Christ in the tomb is potentially the risen Christ…”
A reflection on the readings for October 4, 2019: The Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi