The Deaf can hear and the Dumb can speak.
When was the last time you spoke of Jesus or Mary or one of the saints that adorn the history of the Catholic faith? When was the last time you heard a friend or an associate speak of anything of substance? Chances are you are surrounded by those who speak of people or speak of events but never do you hear anyone speak of ideals or values. And yet this is the heart of the development of the personality in each one of us. We grow according to the truth or values that find a place in our hearts.
Each week as I sit down to share my reflections with you I know that the deeper the truth I can share with you the deeper the union in Spirit I can have with you. Often I receive emails back in appreciation for the thought that the Holy Ghost wished to share in and through me. We are all instruments of the Lord Who holds all of us in His Providential hand. It is up to us to RESPOND to the truth or the value which is offered to us. Each truth or value we hear of leads us to share that truth with those who are closest to us.
In a marriage this type of speaking leads to the increase of love between the husband and his wife. In a family this gift of the father to his children adds them in their development of the Christ-like life. In fact a true father not only gives the seed to his wife for the begetting of a child but he also shares the seed of God’s word with his children in order to help them become the saints of the new world they will occupy.
Today too many are deaf to the words that are substantial and will lead to an eternity with the saints. Instead the majority of people live in the shallows of life as Shakespeare writes. They will not ride the tide to enter the depths of human experience. Instead they float along in the sensual realm while the spiritual life suffers terribly at their hands. Because they are deaf to the Word of God they also become dumb and unable to speak anything substantial. The world of the spiritual life is considered optional and irrelevant. How sadly mistaken people are!
With the culture demanding to be god so the people follow the god they make in their own image and likeness. They have become cold like the dollars they hoard. They have become passionless like the coins in their pockets. They have sown the seeds of materialism and they are simply material boys and girls who never take up the challenge to become the saints courage cries out for. They find their value only in the toys they gather and they become like the toys themselves. In their world no one else matters and consequently, they can kill the babies in the womb or outside; they can give into whatever lust entices them to do; they can lie, cheat or steal and it doesn’t bother their dead conscience.
Yes, this is the world that we are called to challenge in the name of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. He alone can touch our ears so that they might come to hear eternal words. He alone can touch our hearts with His Love and encourage us to speak out anew with enthusiasm. We need not be deaf and dumb; instead, we want to tell the world of God’s love for each of us. Our plea is to recognize that this world is only a temporary testing spot in the movement of our souls to our eternal home in which God alone will reign. The Beatific Vision will occupy our very souls forever and we will never experience boredom; we will never experience sin again and all things will glorify God.
Yes, it is time to be touched by God and healed of our deafness to His Word and opened to speaking the mystery of salvation. For God has so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son, the Eternal Word of Love, to lay down His life’s blood to ransom us for His Father .In Him, we must live and move and have our being and apart from Him we can do nothing. May the union of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart find us ready to transform our hearts and minds to love His Word and to share that Word with the starving world around us.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt, S.D.B.
Comments are closed.