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HEARING THE WORD AS THE PRELUDE TO REPENTANCE - stephenkhoo - 03-12-2014 10:28 AM
HEARING THE WORD AS THE PRELUDE TO REPENTANCE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JONAH 3:1-10; PS 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; LUKE 11:29-32
http://www.universalis.com/20140312/mass.htm
Often, Lent is associated with penance and mortification. But such an impression of Lent is misplaced as the means are now taken for the end. The focus of Lent is not so much on penance but on our conversion to the Lord, which requires a penitent heart. The purpose of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is to open our hearts to hear the Word of the Lord.
Indeed, the prerequisite for conversion is to hear the Word, without which there is no real conversion. This was the case of Jonah where we are told that “the word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah”. So too through Jonah, the Word was addressed to the Ninevites.
Of course, it is not so much a physical hearing, nor even an intellectual understanding of the Word, but to hear it in our hearts in such a way that we feel that it is addressed to us personally, and to hear it as if it was from the Lord Himself, so that it may evoke the changes that are required from us. This was the attitude of the Ninevites when they heard the preaching of Jonah. Although they were pagans, they accepted his message as it were from God Himself.
To hear the Word also means to obey. Hence Jonah, who had earlier rejected the Word, now “set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the Word of the Lord.” When there is no obedience, it also means there is no hearing. Conversely, if there is no real conversion or contrition in our hearts, it means that we have not heard the Word.
This explains why in the gospel, Jesus reprimanded the crowd for asking for a sign. Asking for a sign is not wrong if it is a question of confirming what we believe the Lord has told us. It is a necessary element of discernment. But asking for a sign in a willful and stubborn manner without a sincere desire to do His will, but to justify our refusal to obey, is an entirely different matter. So one must first believe and then ask for a sign.
This is what obedience of faith is all about! Faith is to believe in things not seen. This is what the author of Hebrews says; “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1) Faith is to surrender humbly to the Word that is heard.
But why should we surrender in faith? Simply because God said so! The authority of God is the basis for faith. For us Christians, this authority of God is given in Jesus who, as the gospel tells us, is the Wisdom of God in person. He is even greater than King Solomon. Indeed, for us Christians, we have no reason not to submit in obedience to the Word, especially we who know that Jesus is the Word of God in person.
If hearing the Word is necessary for conversion, then we must ask why we cannot hear the Word. The difficulty in hearing the Word comes about mainly because of pride and familiarity. It was because of pride that the religious leaders during the time of Jesus could not hear Jesus, because they were too filled with their beliefs about God. They did not feel they could learn anything from Jesus who was not even an authorized rabbi. So too for us Catholics; we often neglect to reflect on the Word, because we rely more on our human knowledge than on the Wisdom of God. Some of us because of our intellectual achievements are too proud to submit to the Word of God and the teachings of the Church. We choose to doubt everything that the bible or the Church says. Unless we understand, we will not believe. Instead of responding to the Word of God in faith, we want proofs and reason.
The other obstacle that is hindering us from hearing the Word is familiarity. For those of us who are ministers of the Word, we can become so familiar with the Word of God that it no longer strikes our heart. We tend to relegate the Word to the cerebral dimension of our being and we do not hear the Word as speaking to our hearts. We don’t pay attention to the homilies preached at mass, and complain if it is longer than 10 minutes, because we feel that there is nothing the preacher has to say that we don’t already know. We do not listen to the homily as God addressing us but, like the scribes and Pharisees, scrutinize the homily to see where we can find fault with the preacher. Furthermore, when we read the scriptures, we read merely for academic knowledge and as a consequence unable to read the scriptures as a personal address from God to us. Objective knowledge and study of the scriptures often replace a prayerful reading of the Word of God in faith. Truly, as the proverb says, familiarity breeds contempt. Hearing the Word so often has made us immune to the power of the creative word. As a result, we are not moved to conversion as we keep saying to ourselves, “I have read or heard this Word before!”
The tragedy is that in spite of all the favourable factors given to us to grow in holiness each day through ongoing conversion, we do not take the call to repentance seriously. We are quite content with our spiritual life and spiritual growth. We do not make an effort to grow in virtue and holiness. Thus, the judgement made to the crowd will also be leveled against us. Like them, on Judgement day we will be condemned because the Queen of the South “came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.” Likewise, the men of Nineveh will condemn us, “because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Let us take heed of the words of St Paul when we began the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday when he urged us “As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2 Cor 6:1-10)