March 29 1 Samuel 3-4 & 1 Cor. 9:19-27
“Speak Lord your servant is listening!” Samuel’s words in 1 Samuel 3:9 our good words for us today! It is so easy not to listen, when we talk with one another it is often not a conversation it is more I am talking and when you are I am thinking about what I need or want to say next and not hearing a word you are saying much less the meaning behind them. I am guilty. As we enter these days of the Triduum – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, listening is key. Not only to the words we and others say, but through them to Christ, to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit! I pray you listen well and thus hear with your heart the voice of God! Our stance before God is with open hands when we come before him in praise or in need. The Israelites “fetched” the ark of the covenant, not good. Their hands were closed and self-assured. God is God we are not if you make time to adore the Lord this night at Church or in your home due so with open hands.
Pope Francis uses a somewhat crude explanation, but yet none the less an accurate one when he says the priest should smell like his sheep. In a roundabout way that is saying what St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:19-23 to be all things to all. The true minister has to get out of the office and meet his people where they are, in their homes, at Wal-Mart, at one of the restaurants, or on the street. This is important for me to hear, but guess what? It is good for all of us. Have you been in a car with someone that smokes? Yes, you smell like them, maybe not so good. But the smell of Christ that you share and deepen through being with one another is to KNOW acceptance, love, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness, LIFE!!! That is the gift of the bodies of Christ that come together as THE BODY OF CHRIST. Plan on enjoying more together time as St. Francis de Sales Church (sub in the name of your church) more with me (sub in your pastor) and one another (sub in all your names!!!) as we journey the road of life. It is what our Pope wants for us; it is what Christ wants for us! We can start with these next few nights.
