You are blessed to witness what the Father has revealed through his Son in the Holy Spirit

 

Thursday of week 16 in Ordinary Time 

Jeremiah 2:1-3,​7-8,​12-13 ·

Psalm 35(36):6-11

Matthew 13:10-17

In today’s Gospel reading, I was particularly struck by Jesus’ explanation of why He often spoke to the people in parables. He quotes Isaiah: ‘They look but do not see, and hear but do not listen or understand.’… The hearts of these people are dull; they scarcely listen with their ears, have closed their eyes, so that they cannot see with their eyes, hear with their ears, or understand with their hearts—yet, if they did, I would heal them.

You might wonder why these words of Jesus resonated so deeply with me. It’s probably because it feels like we struggle to see what truly matters and to hear what we need to hear. We find it hard to recognize the humanity in certain groups of people. We often don’t take the time to listen to their stories, and we struggle to hear how far Jesus is calling us to go in loving God and our neighbors.

In our first reading from Jeremiah, God speaks through the prophet: ‘My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug cisterns—broken cisterns—that can hold no water.’

I believe we resist seeing what we need to see and hearing what we need to hear when we try to “hold water” in broken cisterns—such as the false belief that ‘my gain is your loss,’ or that ‘they’re here for the wrong reasons,’ or even that ‘some are outside God’s love and care.’ These beliefs are easy to cling to because they justify prejudice, discrimination, or even violence. But in reality, they hold no water—they aren’t rooted in truth.

Our challenge now is to open our eyes and ears, so that God’s love in Jesus Christ can heal us. Toward the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples: ‘Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.’

We are blessed when we can recognize God’s love for all people and creation. We are blessed when we can listen to others’ stories, allowing our hearts to be moved with compassion instead of hate. And we are truly blessed when we see, hear, and follow Jesus in love—working for justice and building peace.