Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
At our parish today, we are participating in a retreat that is called Discipleship: Journeying Together. A very important part of this journey relies on our ability to listen and then act upon Jesus and His words. Today’s readings remind us that we are called to be one family celebrating Christ as our foundation. It is our shared faith and actions based on this faith that provide the strength that allows our church to flourish even in difficult times.
In our first reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are united through our participation in the Eucharist. As we partake of the one bread and the one cup, we become one Body in Christ. Even though we are many individuals, we become one in Christ, and therefore we share a common mission of being disciples of Jesus. We are called to look to Jesus and His life to understand how we are called to live out our lives as Christians.
In the gospel, Jesus reminds his disciples that not only must we listen to His words, but our faith must lead us to action. Jesus uses the imagery of building a house on a firm foundation to illustrate the importance of both listening and acting upon his words. It is important to listen, but for those who do not follow through with acting upon what they have heard, their “house” is completely destroyed by the raging flood waters. Jesus reminds his listeners that they are recognized as true followers not just by listening to his directives, but by following his commands.
As I reflect on these readings and our focus on Disciple: Journeying together, I think there are helpful lessons we can learn as we continue on this road together. As Jesus implies, being a good listener is vital to following Him. If you are not connected to Jesus and His words, it is impossible for a person to be His disciple. I believe this attentive listening is something that Jesus calls us to live out in our daily lives as well. As we continue our journey as a family or parishes, we are called to listen and respect the voices of others that we walk with on this journey.
A recent reflection from Richard Gaillaredet in “Give Us This Day” says this well: “We may have to abandon the impulse to foreclose honest listening prematurely. We may have to confront a deeply engrained instinct to defend the distinctive attitudes and convictions that mark our particular “tribe,” often at the expense of getting at the deep truth of things. We will have to learn to listen, not for confirmation of our own “rightness,” but for the gentle voice of the Spirit.”
Although we are many people, we are united as the Body of Christ with Jesus as our foundation. Our community of believers is called to act together in living out our faith. When we respectfully share and listen to one another, we can then discern how God is calling us to act. If we rely on Christ’s presence among us, we can listen and act in ways that help build a church that will survive the raging floods of division, hatred, and anger that surround us.
May the Spirit lead us as we journey together, so we can listen and act as disciples of Christ. AMEN.
-Marylynn Herchline