Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Scriptures invite us into the process of discernment. It is a difficult challenge to truly listen deeply, and to hear what is meant by the other—through the Word of God in Scripture, or the voices of my brothers and sisters—be they my neighbor, co-worker, part of my Family of Parishes, or relatives in my extended family.
Showing that I’ve heard another implies that I convey an understanding and empathy, that lets them know I have heard beneath the words and that I care about them and what is being said. This deep listening requires that I refrain from uttering ‘knee-jerk’ reactions and that I listen to what in me might resist or block truly hearing the person beneath their words. Discernment invites me to prayerful listening rather than argumentation and debate. It requires that I slow down my pace, and quick verbal response and into a prayerful listening and sorting.
Jesus calls us away from the polarization that rears in this pre-election time to a deep listening to the word of God and one another, that we might discern the ways of justice and peace and deep love. Can I risk the deeper conversations that invite me to find “common ground” with another? Beneath political differences and diverse cultures and approaches there are common concerns we all deeply hold - care for the wellbeing of our families in the present time and for future generations and that we can provide for everyone’s basic needs. Jesus challenges us to extend that care - to see all in our church families, our city, state, nation and globe as our family, not just those of our immediate families. By acting for the common good of all, we will know many as our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters.
—Sr. Leanne Jablonski, FMI