February 18, Monday Lenten Weekday

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life. — John 6:63b

Mass Readings: Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18/Matthew 25:31-46

Hearing Loss

Like many older people, my father has suffered hearing loss and must wear two hearing aids. Even then, his ability to hear is severely impaired. It’s become an unwritten rule that after I tell him almost anything, he will say “What?” and I’ll have to repeat it. As a person who suffers from a patience deficiency, this is both extremely frustrating and challenging.

Today’s first reading stops me cold. Right there, in this variation of the Ten Commandments, God warns me: “You shall not curse the deaf” (Lv 19:14). The real problem, I fear, is not my father’s inability to hear my words, but my own refusal to hear and obey God’s words. At least my father is wearing hearing aids. Can I truly say the same?

Prayer: God, tune my ears so that I may hear and obey as Jesus did.

Courtesy of Our Sunday Visitor: http://www.osv.com/MyDailyVisitor/tabid/7626/Default.aspx