Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In this first week of Ordinary Time, our readings seem to be focusing on the everyday, rather than those few special days, like Christmas and Easter. Our psalm today exhorts us not to harden our hearts if we should hear God’s voice, and the first reading from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews quotes that same passage. We are called to bow down in worship, kneel before our God who shepherds us and stay faithful to our journey. But when do we hear God’s voice? How do we hear God’s voice? Where do we hear God’s voice? For many of us, this is the hard part. We’d like to think we’d never harden our hearts upon hearing God’s voice, but it’s not always clear to us when we are hearing God’s voice. Sometimes it may seem that we simply are not encountering God in our daily grind of work, school, family, etc.

Here today’s gospel passage adds some insight. We see Jesus pursued so much that he cannot even enter a town publicly because of the attention he receives. Even in deserted places, Jesus is sought after. Though we live in very different times, still we are called to pursue Jesus each day of our lives. By such pursuit, namely, the following of Jesus and even seeking after him in deserted places such as the difficulties and challenges of life, we make it possible to hear God’s voice and to respond with loving hearts. We must listen to hear him in those around us – from our family and friends to the poor and powerless.

As each day passes and we go about our daily lives, we are invited to listen for God’s voice and be receptive to his message and his grace in our lives. But that same receptivity depends on our openness to seek after Jesus and pursue him in each moment of our lives. Let us pray that we might be steadfast followers of Jesus, expecting to hear God’s voice and waiting for that voice with open hearts.

- Maria Morrow