SUNDAY GOSPEL LECTIO DIVINA

The Word of God is a gift from heaven. We can try to determine what “the universe” is trying to say to us, but all we will really hear and see is what we want to hear and see. Scripture gives a clear and distinct voice to listen to, one that can be distinguished from our own. This is the way God designed it for those who believe in him: If we believe, Scripture will be a light upon our path. To help us hear his voice in this confusing world, he gave us Scripture, Tradition, and the Church to teach them to us. 

Kilby is a freelance writing from New Jersey and managing editor of Catholic World Report.

Many of the sayings of Jesus are hard to understand, and I’ll admit I’m taken aback by some of them. Some of the things he says are challenging. They challenge us to see things differently, which is good. It’s good because it’s a reminder that life and the world have knocked us off track. When something Jesus says does not line up with my own values, I can know that it’s because my experiences–and the way I perceive them–have caused me to see the world and life in ways that are not right and true. Listening to Jesus’ word sets me back on track. But sometimes listening requires a little extra effort, more than just skimming through the words and getting the superficial meaning. Some of the realities Jesus is teaching us lie beneath the surface. He has a reason for putting them there: It’s to teach us patience and to help us get in touch with our spiritual side.

There is a certain authority about Jesus calling the disciples to leave their profession and follow him. There is no record of him trying to persuade them to follow him. He didn’t have to build rapport or garner their respect. Or at least there is no indication here that he did. He just called them and they just followed him. It was that simple. It’s a bit reminiscent of God’s six days of creation, when God said “Let there be . . .” and then it was so. God called the disciples to follow him and it was so: They followed him. Just like that. God willed it, so it just happened. When God wills something, nothing in the universe can stop it from happening. Imagine what we could accomplish, then, if we lived within his will. Just as Jesus said, anything we ask for would then be granted to us

A voice still cries out in the desert. It is the voice of those who have renounced this world, those who refuse to be influenced by the news and trends of our society. It’s the voice of those who put the quest for God before everything else, and as a result offer straight advice that many others are afraid to share. But the more society tries to silence them, the more people seek them out, just like they sought out John the Baptist, because they hunger for truth. If we listen for the truth, we will find the John the Baptists of our time. 

I can see in my own life the foreshadowing of the way it’s going to end. There have been times when I had to let go of a loved one, a habit, a favorite possession, or something else. These occasions reminded me that everything is ephemeral. While it always hurts, it also always resonates with truth because I know it can be no other way, since everything in this world is just passing us by. So it is wise to learn from these occasions, when I lose something, or when something I love ends, or when something I cherish is taken from me. It is in these occasions when God is teaching me to prepare for the very end of everything. And hopefully I was listening enough so it doesn’t hit too hard. Everything in this world was designed to fade away, so we can learn to disconnect ourselves from it all and fix our eyes on heaven. 

It’s been said that heaven is just like here, the only difference being that God’s presence is more perceivable. That is what is missing here on earth, after all: God’s perceivable presence. It is his presence that gives us hope. Even if we don’t believe God exists, we need to believe because without him there is no hope. If we do perceive his presence, it is our duty to share that faith with others, to give them reasons to believe. Some of our reasons could be arrived at by reason itself. Other reasons will be of the heart. As Blaise Pascal said, “The heart has reasons that reason knows not.” Sometimes Jesus’ words don’t make sense. His prophecy today may leave us scratching our heads at times. But our heart knows he is right. Our heart knows that this world and this life are not the only thing God has in store for us. We are waiting. The more we listen to God and for God, the more he will sustain our hope and the easier the waiting will become.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival

In keeping the faith, there is a great deal of waiting involved. We hold vigils to prove our faithfulness as we wait for the Lord to act, for the Lord to return. I’m sorry, but I can’t help but ponder, what if we are wrong? What if Jesus isn’t coming back, and what if a life of faith ends up being all in vain? Blaise Pascal, a philosopher and mathematician during the Enlightenment, and a Christian, asked the same question. His conclusion is known as Pascal’s Wager, which states:

“ Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”

Fans of sports teams could wait an entire lifetime for their team to win a championship and never see it happen. Was their hope all in vain? I would say no, of course not. As we wait, we learn what it means to be faithful, hopeful, and patient. We learn how to live with integrity. At the end of our lives, being vigilant in waiting for the Lord will make us into virtuous people because of the very nature of vigilance. God is vigilant in waiting for us to turn to him. By being vigilant as we wait for him, as we wait for anything good, we exhibit one of his qualities.

It is difficult to live for a place we know little about. What is heaven like? We know in heaven we will be in God’s presence. But what is His presence like? Many people have shared a wide range of experiences where they claimed they were touched by God, or heard His voice. How do we know when God is touching us, speaking to us, giving us glimpses of heaven? We know by having a pure heart, free of sin and selfish desires. When we quiet all of the false promises we tell ourselves, we then can more clearly hear and see the beauty of the one true promise which is eternal life with Christ in heaven.

The teachings of Christ are glorious. They are unlike anything the world has ever been given. Christ’s teachings are not just words, they are encapsulations of the truth, goodness, and beauty found throughout all of creation. When we unpack them, the connections we see between them and life in general are endless. This is why it behooves us to listen closely whenever Christ speaks. There will always be something profound in his words that we can learn.