Listening Well And Hard

 

I enclose a short homily from Page 7 of the 9/11/24 newspaper to which I subscribe, The Cavalier Chronicle. The homily is entitled, Pass It On.

 

I will write out the short weekly homily below and comment on it.

 

Homily: “We can learn to hear God’s voice. It takes time, practice, discernment, prayer and immersion in God’s word.”

 

My response: I do not know who wrote this first paragraph if this homily but it incomparably well-written in two ways. First, it reminds the supplicant that listening to God’s communication to us is critically important if we and God are to get along, grow together, and for the relationship to grow and prosper. We often do not listen, hear, understand, let alone heed what God is telling us, and that is a problem of the first rank.

 

Second, the writer of the homily, that pastor or theologian, is reminding each Christian that it is hard work, at the best of time, to understand what God is conveying to us, but that, if we persist, we can make headway at understanding God’s plan for us.

 

Homily: “Often, God’s purpose is for us to share what we understand. Listen to God’s voice this week in church.

 

The word or the lord came to me. Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15.”

 

My response: I sense that the remainder of this homily is geared towards ministers, priests, or prophets ascertaining the word of God, and then in the church or on television to inform the congregation of audience or the masses what is God’s will and plan.

 

That is useful, but as each person individuates and comes closer to understanding the Good Spirits and good deities on her own, the less does she need others to translate for her what is the meaning of divine communication from on high to the masses on earth.

 

Still, if most adults individuate, then each will have a unique relationship with God, and that original comprehension and insight into who, what and where God is leading us is a message to be shared with the community, and the other individuators and nonindividuators in the religious community should welcome new input into their communal and private lives.