The interior ear
The world shouts
Airplanes, automobiles, ships, trains, radio, machinery of all types, explosions and giant speakers everywhere. Are we still able to listen amid this continuous tumult? The noise is strident enough to tear our eardrums. It’s no wonder so many suffer from deafness in this day and age.
With many decibels the world is shouting that we live in a frenzied rhythm of gigantic moves, of unnecessary purchases, of superficial and immediate information, of provoked sentiments that barely graze our skin and of emotions as fleeting as lightning.
Despite our mind’s prodigious ability to process data and experiences, it is difficult to accommodate each in its appropriate place, which generates internal disorder and confusion. Something similar happens in our heart: When faced with such confusion, it often wanders aimlessly along whatever path life presents.
God speaks in a soft voice
Throughout Judeo-Christian history, God has communicated with human beings principally by speaking to their interior, to their hearts. Today, God continues to speak in the softest whisper, a murmur difficult to hear unless one finds the silence of a heart in love; then the whisper becomes incredibly loud. That is how he spoke to Elijah on Mount Horeb; that is how he spoke to Samuel in the solitude of the Temple. (see 1 Kings 19; 1 Samuel 3)
A heart in love is the interior ear where God’s whisper can be heard. God whispers in the ear of all those who work tirelessly for peace, persistently trusting in the inherent good of each human being. God murmurs softly in the interior of those who, like St. John XXIII, possess a simple joy and want to bring the presence of the beloved to all around them. God whispers his comforting presence to those like St. Teresa of Kolkata who stop to listen to the poor and abandoned. God communicates his joy to those like St. John Paul II who walk optimistically the most winding paths that present themselves.
God has always wanted to share with us his thoughts and sentiments, which is why at a certain moment in our history he decided to live among us.
During Jesus’ pilgrim journey on earth, many heard him speak, but few listened to him. Those who listened were transformed by his word because they listened with their heart, because his word spoke to their interior and gave a definite direction to their lives; it made them feel loved.
Today God wants to continue sharing the most intimate sentiments of his heart as he did with Venerable Conchita Cabrera, rejoicing upon discovering a heart like an oasis where he found solace, refreshment and rest. God wants to be accompanied, which is why he shares what is in his heart with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Faustina, St. Thérèse and each person who opens the ear of their heart in order to hear the divine heart — to listen so closely to Jesus in the tabernacle that you can even hear him cough, as Conchita Cabrera would playfully say.
God continues and will continue to speak to all of us in Scripture, in the word of his Son Jesus, in church doctrine, in the teaching of St. Peter’s successor, and of course in our hearts, whispering our name softly.
Those who are in love know how to discern the voice of the beloved and how to respond with joy upon hearing it. Fortunately, women and men who know how to listen to their heart continue to rise up. Mary was one of those who had a heart that always listened, and so she managed to love God and bring his voice near to all of us.
Speak, Lord! Our hearts want to continue listening.
Bishop Eusebio Elizondo is writing the bishop’s column while Archbishop J. Peter Sartain recuperates from back surgery.
Northwest Catholic - November 2016