Hearing the Lord with the Care He Desires, 25th Monday (II), September 24, 2018

Fr. Roger J. Landry
Visitation Convent of the Sisters of Life, Manhattan
Monday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II
Memorial of Our Lady of Mercy
September 24, 2018
Prov 3:27-34, Ps 15, Lk 8:16-18

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

The following points were attempted in the homily: 

• Today’s Gospel, from the passage immediately after Jesus gave us the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, can be summarized by Jesus’ words, “Take care how you hear.” He gives us three images that can help us to determine whether we’re receiving his Word and himself on good soil:
  • He tells us, “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lamp stand so that those who enter may see the light.” In other words, if we’re listening correctly, we’re hearing what he seeks to implant as “words to be done.” It’s not supposed to remain hidden or private, but is meant to illumine the world. If we’re not listening with this apostolic dimension, we’re not going to be abundant fruit.
  • He adds, “There is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.” Jesus tells us that even though sometimes we can fake as if we’re paying close attention, our going through the exterior motions will eventually be exposed. Likewise if we’re fighting to give our full wits to his words, even if we’re struggling, that effort, too, will be known.
  • He then concludes, “To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” This is a law of physical exercise, musical growth, and intellectual progress: we use it or we lose it. To the one who gives the word both ears as well as the mind and the heart, he will become more and more fruitful; but to the one who is not really hanging on every word, he’ll lose eventually even that superficial adherence.
• A great means by which we can look at whether we’re listening with these qualities is by turning to today’s first reading, which is one of only three day in two years we have passages from the Book of Proverbs. It can help us to see whether we’re really living by the word of God in deeds, because all of these Proverbs are anticipations of what we regularly hear in the Gospel.
  • The Book of Proverbs first tells us, “Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim when it is in your power to do it for him. Say not to your neighbor, ‘Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give,’ when you can give at once.” This means that we should listen with alacrity to God when he speaks to us through others. If we think we can delay, then we won’t be prompt in our discipleship, like the first disciples were in leaving their boats immediately to follow Jesus. This is ultimately a version of the “Silver Rule,” not to do unto others what we don’t want to happen to us. It’s also an application of St. James’ commentary on the Sermon on the Mount that we have to care for the brother we see rather than blow him off saying we’ll pray for him and “good luck.”
  • Next Proverbs tells us, “Plot no evil against your neighbor, against one who lives at peace with you. Quarrel not with a man without cause, with one who has done you no harm.” When we’re listening to the word of God, it will transform us into peacemakers,  true children of God, not only not plotting evil or quarreling, but building peace. It will help us to love our neighbor, pray for our persecutor and do good to the one who does evil to us.
  • Third, we’re told, “Envy not the lawless man and choose none of his ways: To the Lord the perverse one is an abomination, but with the upright is his friendship.” Sometimes we can envy those who have gotten away with things that are wrong, but this passage reminds us that the upright are friends of God. When we listen to the word of God, we’re listening to a friend. This is ultimately what Jesus says to us in encouraging us to adopt his standards, rather than those of others, to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herodians. It’s also a commentary on what he says during the Last Supper when he calls us his friends if we do what he commands.
  • Finally, the passage reminds us, “The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but the dwelling of the just he blesses; When dealing with the arrogant, he is stern, but to the humble he shows kindness.” God wants to bless our “dwelling,” our life, and he will show his kindness when we’re humble. For this to occur, we begin by humbling accepting God’s word within as a great blessing.
• The last Proverb has an immediate link to Our Lady in the Gospel, who in her Magnificat reminds us that the Lord shows mercy to the humble. Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy and she is one to whom we can turn to show us how to take care how we hear. She received the light of the Word of God within and didn’t conceal it but in fact gave birth to the Light of the World. Even what was hidden within her in silence was eventually known about her relationship with God. She was given so much at her Immaculate Conception, but her whole life continued to grow in grace upon grace. She refuses no one who has recourse to her and responds without delay, as the prayer “We fly to thy patronage,” reminds us. She plots no evil but seeks only good. She didn’t envy the lawless but loved the Lord. And she in her justice became the very dwelling place of God. We ask her in a special way today to intercede for us in her mercy that we might imitate the way that she always took care of the word of God and allow it to grow within her, so that we, too, might through Holy Communion become God’s fitting dwelling place!

The readings for today’s Mass were: