Listen Now

Hearing with the heart and listening with love

Mark 1:40-45 

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

          You don’t have to hear too many speeches by the same speaker, or read too many books by the same author, to pick up on their idiosyncrasies, their tell-tale traits, their favorite phrases. I’ve heard enough homilies by Bishop Robert Barron that I smile when I hear one of his characteristic catch phrases. For example, at some point in his homily, he will invariably use the term, “Listen now.” Another “Barronism” is the phrase, “Up and down the centuries.” Have you heard him use those? I especially like the phrase “Listen now,” and have used it myself. It’s a powerful rhetorical device because it’s direct and demanding; it makes you sit up. Bishop Barron know he has to grab the attention of his audience. Why? Well, because we all tend to day-dream and lose focus. How many have already zoned out of this homily?? Listen now. (See how that works?)

          Do you know which passage of the Old Testament the Jews quote more than any other? In fact, devout Jews say it twice a day as they begin their morning and evening prayers. It’s Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Listen now, it reads: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The deuteronomic author knows well, like Bishop Barron, that sometimes you have to grab people by the collar, so before he gives them the great commandment, he says, “Shema Israel,” or “Hear, O Israel,” or “Listen now, Israel.” In other words, he’s telling the people, don’t just hear with your ear, but hear with your heart; listen now with loving attention to what I’m about to tell you.

          In the gospel today, we meet a man who is not listening with love to Jesus. A man with leprosy is healed, but Jesus warns him sternly, “See that you tell no one [about me healing you], but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed, that will be proof for them.” But what did the former leper do? None of the above: there is no evidence that he went to the priest; rather, he excitedly told everyone about Jesus’ miraculous healing, exactly what Jesus said NOT to do. And because he did not listen, he did not obey. Too bad Bishop Barron wasn’t there to tell the leper, “Listen now!” In fact, the Latin word “to obey” is “obedire,” which literally means “to listen,” “ob” and “audire.” The leper only heard with his ear, not with his heart; he did not listen with love, therefore he did not obey.

          My friends, I am convinced that the single greatest skill we can acquire as a human person is learning to listen; not just to hear with the ear, but to listen with love. And this is true “up and down the centuries”! When I counsel married couples the first thing I notice is how much they talk and how little they listen. Even when one of them is quiet and looks like they’re listening, they’re really preparing in their mind their next response, rebuttal and refutation. That’s not listening with love. When I was a little boy my parents taught me many things that went in one ear and out the other. Now, 40 years later, I’m starting to listen to them with love. Even as a priest it can be tempting to tune out the bishop, and only hear him with one ear, and no heart. Why do priests do that? Simple: because if we listen with love, we might have to obey. Rather, we “listen” like the leper, and we do not obey. As you mature in the spiritual life, in your journey with Jesus, you’ll feel less and less the need to talk, and more and more the urge to listen with loving attention. That’s actually the best sign of spiritual progress. You begin to realize that maybe what Jesus has to say to you is a little more interesting than what you have to say to him.

          Shema, Israel. Listen now.

Praised be Jesus Christ!