ON THE ROCK OF THE WORD OF GOD
15 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

I have a cousin. He was not practicing his faith. Recently he attended a Bible Retreat. After the retreat, he called me and said, “Father I was touched by the retreat. I am a new person today. I would have gone to the retreat much earlier. I should have listen to the whispering of the Holy Spirit long before. Now I realized what I was really missing.”

All the readings this Sunday, especially the Gospel passage, talks about listening. There are two kinds of listening.

1. Listening without passion and having no interest of changing one’s heart. The seeds fell on the stony ground, seeds fell on the way side and the seeds fell among the bushes represent this kind of listening. They are OK with either way. They are halfhearted people. One day a priest visited a dying man to administer the sacrament of anointing. The priest asked him, “Do you denounce Satan?” He did not give any answer. The priest asked him again. Still there was no response. The priest was curious,”Why don’t you respond to my question?” “Until I don’t know where I am heading to, I don’t want to take a risk”, the dying man responded.

2. Listening with a passion for Change. The seed fell on the good soil represents this kind of listening. Listening is a process. The Hindu Gurus talk about a Mantra: Sravana Manana Nithithyasana ( listen, meditate and personalize.). Listening with passion consists of these three steps.

A person who actively listens to the Word of God and acts upon it is like a person who built his house on solid rock. They also reflect the Word of God in their lives.