Are you Hearing and Listening?

Are you Hearing and Listening? 

   There is a big difference from Hearing and Listening. To Hear is to acknowledge a sound from someone or something. To Listen is to give ones attention to the sound. We hear things and people all day long but how often do we really listen to them? Think back as a child, How often did you “hear” your parents calling you but ignored them or when they were lecturing you that you heard them but didn’t listen to a word they said? I know for myself a lot. How about when it come to God? Do you hear Him? Do you listen to Him? 

     The first step is to hear. How well do you hear? Are you able to focus on one sound or do they all seem to blend in and you can’t separate them? When it comes to God, do you allow those sounds to drown Him out? These are questions that only you can answer for yourself. You know what you are deciding to hear and not. For myself it seem there are times when there is all kinds of sounds and all are loud and yet the Voice of God comes through and I hear Him above all of the noise and yet when it is all quiet and still I strain to hear Him. You have to be active and open to hear Him. Sometimes it is the worlds noise that keeps us from Hearing Him. Other times it is that we do not want to hear Him. So we turn up the volume of life and go about our day. Again with this, it is only you that can make this choice. Turn it up or Turn it down.

    The second part is listening. Oh, yes we may hear God but are we listening to what He is saying? When it came to my parents or adults when they were talking or lecturing me, yeah I heard you, I just wasn’t listening at times. Sometimes I may just listen enough to get some of it, so when I was asked “are you listening? Ok repeat what I said...” I was able to give enough back to keep me out of more trouble. Do you do that with God? Hear just enough but still ignore Him at the same time? The difference with God is we don’t get to fake Him out with just spewing back some of what we hear to Him. He knows fully from the start if we are listening or not. We are only fooling ourselves if we think we are fooling God. It doesn’t stop Him from trying time and time again. There really is no way for me to tell you or help you listen to God. I am sorry to say that but it is the same for myself. You have to want to listen to God. You have to decide it is time to listen. Same goes for all of us. We have to make an active choice to listen. That is the price of “free will”. No one, not even God can force us to listen. 

    Ok You Hear Him, You actually did Listen, Now what? That all depends on what did He say? It can be from changing your life and giving Him control or even changing the smallest thing that can make a great difference. It is a three part action plan. Hear Listen Do... 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and remember it is up to you if you Hear, Listen and Do, it is not up to God. 

Memorial of St. John Neumann

Lectionary: 212

Reading 1

1 JN 3:22–4:6

Beloved:

We receive from him whatever we ask,

because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

And his commandment is this:

we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,

and love one another just as he commanded us.

Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,

and the way we know that he remains in us

is from the Spirit whom he gave us.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit

but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,

because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This is how you can know the Spirit of God:

every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh

belongs to God,

and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus

does not belong to God.

This is the spirit of the antichrist

who, as you heard, is to come,

but in fact is already in the world.

You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them,

for the one who is in you

is greater than the one who is in the world.

They belong to the world;

accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world,

and the world listens to them.

We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us,

while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us.

This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 2:7BC-8, 10-12A

R. (8ab) I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

The LORD said to me, “you are my Son;

this day I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give you

the nations for an inheritance

and the ends of the earth for your possession.”

R. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

And now, O kings, give heed;

take warning, you rulers of the earth.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;

with trembling rejoice.

R. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

Alleluia

SEE MT 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom

and cured every disease among the people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 4:12-17, 23-25

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,

he withdrew to Galilee. 

He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,

in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,

that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet 

might be fulfilled:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

the people who sit in darkness

have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,

“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He went around all of Galilee,

teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,

and curing every disease and illness among the people. 

His fame spread to all of Syria,

and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases

and racked with pain,

those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics,

and he cured them. 

And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea,

and from beyond the Jordan followed him.