By Most Rev. Dr. Yvon Ambroise, Bishop of Tuticorin –
Continuing from yesterday, Jesus while narrating this parable the Parable of the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:1-18), mentions that the character of his sheep is listening to his voice. Let me quote “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gate keeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice …. v.16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice”.
Jesus asserts that a true follower will listen to his voice. This exclusive experience is possible only in moments of prayer and with a deep intimacy of God in prayer.
In (Mk 9:7) Experience of Transfiguration (Mk 9:7) and the Baptism of Christ (Lk 3:22, Mt 3:17,Mk 1:11): “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son: listen to him’”. In the instance of John baptizing Jesus in Jordan we read “you are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” It is only in Mark and Luke the word “you are” are used, but in Mathew the words “This is” are used. In both experiences the words ‘beloved Son’ are used. Only in Transfiguration experience the word “Listen to him” are added.
God has expressed his explicit wish to each and every one of us that what he wants is that we should listen to the teachings and love initiatives of His son Jesus Christ. To the fundamental question as to where we can find such initiatives of God the direct response is that it is only the moments of prayer and especially deep and intimate moments of prayer in our life.
It is the existential situation wherein we could hear God’s dialogue with us and come to know His deep intimate love for us. Hence we see that several times Christ went up to the mountains to pray to His Father or to listen and dialogue with His Father. (e.g Lk 6:12) “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray and all night he continued in prayer to God”. Before important moments in his life he made it a point to pray: like, choosing his twelve apostles, before his death at Gethsemani, etc. They were moments of intense listening to His Father to discern as to how he should go about. They were moments of gaining strength to go ahead of what His Father wanted, come what may.
A willing listening is a total willingness to fulfill the will of the Father
Listening can be a passing event of our life or an even that transforms our life. A willing listening is the mark of the heart joining the act of listening. Such a listening could overtake momentary unwillingness of a listening heart.
We read in the gospels the parable of the two sons Mt 21:28 to 32 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, ‘I will not’, but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir’, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, ‘The first’. Jesus said to them. ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For john came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change you minds and believe him’”.
The first son had a listening heart and hence he repented of his momentary unwillingness to do the will of his father and fulfilled it without any advertisement or as an act of gaining a favour. It was a pure act of love of the first son of the parable.
Thus in our life we must ask ourselves whether we have a listening heart to God. Peter had such a listening heart. His fearful reaction of denying Christ was touched by Christ’s look and transformed his life.
To be concluded tomorrow…
This article is used with permission from CBCI