Monday, March 16, 2015

Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent, Cycle B - March 13, 2015

Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent
March 13, 2015    8:30am

 

“The first duty of love is to listen.”
A well-respected German theologian named Paul Tillich made that simple statement.
“The first duty of love is to listen.”

So, Jesus says in today’s gospel that the first great commandment is to love God with our entire being.
Following Tillich’s insight, the first step in that love and the step that must always be present is to listen to God.
We do that most clearly when we read the Scripture, the very Word of God.
We are receptive, outwardly and inwardly quiet, wanting to take in what God is saying.
We hear the words, hear them in their context, and try to understand what God is saying about himself or us or our relationship with him.
To listen in this way is foundational to the love of God.

Then, to love our neighbor as ourselves, what Jesus calls the second great commandment, demands again that we listen.
Again, we are receptive, outwardly quiet and inwardly quiet, wanting to take in what the other is saying.
Again, we hear the words, try to understand the feelings and the thought process beneath the words, and to take in what the other person is saying about herself or himself, about us, about our relationship, or about whatever the topic or issue is.
This is not easy to do in our culture and society.
We talk, we promote ourselves, we interrupt, we think of what we will say just as soon as the other takes a breath.
For us, to listen to another is quite difficult.
But it is the first and ongoing step of love.

“The first duty of love is to listen.”

Paul Tillich has a great insight.