There was a woman who believed she had a hearing problem. Her friends kept telling her she had a problem. She was always asking them to repeat what had been said in conversation. The woman made an appointment with an audiologist to check out her hearing problem. The doctor told her that he had the latest diagnostic technology, but that he preferred using his old, reliable test first. So the doctor took out his railroad pocket watch.
Seated across from the woman, the doctor held up the watch and asked her if she could hear the watch’s ticking. “Sure, just fine,” she replied. So the doctor got up, walked behind her, and asked if she could hear it now. Again, she gave an affirmative response. The doctor then walked across the office, standing about 20 feet away, and asked if the ticking could still be heard. The woman replied that she heard it easily. Finally, the doctor walked out the door so he was out of sight, and asked if she could still hear the watch. Again ,the woman said that she heard it clearly.
The doctor returned to his chair, putting the old, reliable timepiece back in his pocket. Looking at the woman, he gave her his diagnosis. “Your hearing is perfect,” the doctor said. “Your problem is not in your hearing; you just don’t know how to listen.”
I share this story with you in my first column at the beginning of the Church’s new liturgical year because it offers what might be one of our spiritual resolutions for the liturgical seasons ahead: How can I be a better listener to God and those whom I encounter along the way? Another way of phrasing the idea might be: “How can I better hear and pay attention to God’s Word in my life and put it more into practice?”
The start of a new liturgical year and its accompanying seasons causes great excitement in me. It’s not so much that I am focused on how much progress I can make as I go through the liturgical seasons, because I may just be embarrassed by how little I have grown. Rather, each new liturgical year and its seasons are an invitation to go deeper into my relationship with the community of the Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
During the first season of the liturgical year, we are invited to focus on the Christ’s coming among us yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). Advent is a time when not only do we call to mind the coming of God in our midst in the flesh, but we look also towards his second coming at the end of time. However, the saints of old would say we need to look for Him in the meantime as well — especially in our focus on the Word become flesh and paying attention to where Christ meets and speaks to us along the road of life.
On June 1, the Catholic Church observed World Communications Day. In an article for the occasion, “Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV, and the Urgency of Listening” by journalist Alessandro Gisotti on the Vatican News website, it was noted: “Certainly, on the broad theme of communicating, both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV (even before being elected to the Chair of Peter) emphasized, with great conviction, the centrality of listening in communication. They urge us to give time and space to the other, to meet them in silence before — in fact even more than — in the word … This echoes what the Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine, had already asserted eight centuries earlier: ‘Do not let your heart be in your ears, but let your ears be in your heart’ … Today, unfortunately, we live in a world where influence and importance no longer come from listening, but only from having ‘the last word’ … Today, at their very heart, the gravest crises afflicting the world stem precisely from the inability to listen to one another, to ‘put ourselves in the other’s shoes.’”
More than ever, the Catholic Church needs “synodality” — to purposefully take time to listen to one another and seek understanding rather than simply dismissing the different viewpoint, or even more sadly, making the “other” the “villain.” This happens in families, in churches, in communities, and is very prevalent in our nation. People like to ask the question, “How can we fix things today in our society that are broken?” Wouldn’t it begin by listening to one another sincerely and without pre-set agendas?
Recently, the Weekday Lectionary for the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time presented the Church with the stories of the blind man on the roadside (Luke 18:35-43) and of Zacchaeus, the Chief Tax Collector (Luke 19:1-10). The crowds surrounding these men in each instance wanted to simply dismiss them and count them as not worth any attention or effort. What happens though, is Jesus, who listens not only with His ears, but also with His heart, reaches out to both and grants them a new lease on life — one in a physical way and one in a spiritual way. Even more, by Jesus really listening to them both, each reached new heights physically and spiritually.
Deep down, this is my own prayer and hope for this new year of grace. Somewhat unexpectedly on Nov. 18, I had to say goodbye for now to my spiritual director, Friar Jude De Angelo, OFM Conv., who went home to the Lord. However, I can never thank Almighty God enough for what He allowed in the hours before his death. We were able to have one last time of spiritual direction in his hospital room, and it will be one I will never forget. As he sat up in bed and I sat next to his bed, we talked about what certainly can be called the “Last Things.” Yet, it was a space in time filled with such hope and gratitude, which led each of us to give voice to a blessing prayer for the journey each one of us was on — Jude praying for me and the challenges I face as your shepherd, and I commending Jude to the loving embrace of the Good Shepherd. There were tears and emotions shared, but most of all, just supreme gratitude for having the opportunity to listen to one another through the years, and knowing what a blessing it was and the difference it made in each of our lives.
Those moments of simple listening and paying attention to one another will mark the rest of my life. Therefore, my challenge to all of us in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months that will make up the coming year is simply to be better listeners to one another, and just maybe we will find the better world all of us are seeking. Happy Advent and a Blessed New Year of Grace!
