“Blessed if you see and hear the Lord” By Beth DeCristofaro
This word of the LORD came to me: Go, cry out
this message for Jerusalem to hear! (Jeremiah 2:1)
This is why I speak to them in parables,
because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. …
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you
see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
(Matthew 13:13-14, 16-17)
Piety
Graciously be present to your people, we
pray, O Lord, and lead those you have imbued with heavenly mysteries to pass
from former ways to newness of life.
Through Christ our Lord.
(Payer after Communion, Mass of the Day)
Study
Today would have been my brother Michael’s 62nd
birthday. He died unexpectedly at 37 so
it is hard to picture him as a middle-aged man although he had a streak of “old
man” in him even then. Among the
memories of my brother growing up was listening with him to my dad tell stories
about his childhood. We learned about
his difficult yet full-of-love upbringing. And both of my parents would load us
kids into one bed and read to us. Aesop’s fables was a favorite book. I just ran across a delightful resource which
I’m sure my brother would have loved.
Fr. Greg Carlson, S.J., at Creighton U., has compiled what might be one
of the largest online collections of fables in the world! With pictures![i] We kids used to pour over the vintage images
of talking donkeys and foxes while asking for “just one more story.”
Narratives like my dad’s made us know him
better and grow our relationship with him as he shared himself so personally with
us. He grew up poor, in a different era,
yet wasn’t so much different from us in his antics. “Fables often use animals to move us from
awareness to attitude,” the Creighton site states. “A fable invites the
listener to become more aware of himself/herself.” According to the notes
from the NAB, parable “designates stories that are illustrative comparisons
between Christian truths and events of everyday life.”[ii] Parables are allegories – they point to
something else.
Jesus knew the limitations of his audience
then and now. They, and we, expect what
we assume. In Jesus’ day, the Jews
expected the Messiah to come to free them from Roman oppression. Jesus, however, came to free us from sin and
enter into a new relationship with us.
And he knew that they, and we, hear what we want to hear. By using stories with exaggerated elements
such as a shepherd leaving a flock alone in the wilderness to search for one
missing, it caused Jesus’ audience to consider that he was revealing a much
bigger truth. He invited them as he today
invites us to hear more. He invites us to follow so that the ears of our hearts
become attuned to the Word.
Action
God knows and loves us well. My dad knew and adored his children
well. He loved the time he spent telling
us tales, perhaps as much as we did. I wish
I could ask Mike what he remembers of those yarns of dad’s growing up. Jesus knew stories would touch something in
us. Do I know how much God loves to sit
close to me, telling me stories? Am I
listening, willing to change my expectations and desires for God?
[i] https://www.creighton.edu/aesop/
Illustration: “this card
presents "Renard Ermite," complete with papal bulls to show what a
pilgrim he is!” https://www.creighton.edu/aesop/artifacts/cards/fablecards/fablecardseries/5430/
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