listening to love
"This is My beloved Son on Whom My favor rests. Listen to Him." —Matthew 17:5
The Lord in His love is saying something to you. The Lord's words are "spirit and life" (Jn 6:63). What He is saying is life-giving, life-saving, and full of love. What He is saying is also "over your head," as high as the heavens are above the earth (Is 55:9). His word is not beyond our intellect as much as beyond our love. He loves us much more than we love ourselves and infinitely more than we love others and are loved by others.
Because of His love for us, the Lord says things to us which seem outrageous. For example, He told the seventy-five-year-old Abram to leave his homeland and go off to "who knows where" (see Gn 12:1-4; Heb 11:8). Through Paul, the Lord told a hurting Timothy to bear his "share of the hardship which the gospel entails" (2 Tm 1:8). It was hard for Timothy and Abram to hear such things. Likewise, it will be hard for us.
The Lord in His love is saying something to you. It's probably about the cross again. Will you listen in love this Lent?
Prayer: Father, I will listen to Your whispers and Your shouts.
Promise: "God has saved us and has called us to a holy life, not because of any merit of ours but according to His own design — the grace held out to us in Christ Jesus before the world began." —2 Tm 1:9
Praise: Praise Jesus, Who "has robbed death of its power and has brought life and immortality into clear light through the gospel" (2 Tm 1:10).
Reference: (For more teaching on this subject, order our pamphlet, Hearing God.)
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, July 23, 1998
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 27, 1998