Psalm Reflection - The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” - Psalm 90

“If.”

What a terrifying word.

It would be a lot more comfortable if the Psalmist said: “when today you hear his voice,” but instead that pesky “if” reminds us that we could potentially go our entire lives without hearing the voice of the Lord.

Why? Not because God is silent. No, God is constantly speaking to us and trying to reveal His love to us.

Rather, we may never hear His voice because we do not listen for it.

God is a gentleman, He will not force Himself on us or go where He is not welcome. If we busy ourselves with noise and chase after the false gods of instant gratification, pleasure, lust, hedonism, approval, popularity, wealth, power and influence, we will find ourselves surrounded with false answers about how to live our lives, all of which will leave us empty and unhappy.

So, the first challenge of the Psalmist is for us to make sure that we are listening for God’s voice. 

Secondly, when we do hear God’s voice, how do we respond? Are we humble and teachable, or are we proud and hardened? We live in a world that is averse to criticism. Everyone is expected be tolerant of everyone else’s opinions even if they are based on lies, everyone gets a participation trophy, and everyone deserves a 5-star review. 

In fact, we are very good at dishing out criticism in a world with professional Yelp reviewers, food and film critics, and internet trolls galore. We are not good, however, at receiving criticism.

Often, when criticized, we try to discredit the criticizer’s credibility or excuse ourselves because of our pure intentions or other external factors rather than listening.

When God speaks to us, do we respond the same way? 

Do people write God off because they really believe He is not real, or is it because they simply do not want to hear the hard truths of what He has to say to them about their lives? 

To use an Old Testament analogy, we are called to be clay: malleable and moldable in the hands of God, the potter.

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Arise and go down to the potter’s house; there you will hear my word. I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. Whenever the vessel of clay he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making another vessel of whatever sort he pleased. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the LORD. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. - Jeremiah 18:1-6

We cannot harden our hearts like a clay pot that has already been placed in a kiln. Rather, we are constantly being formed, reformed, and transformed in the hands of God. He will not be done with us until the moment of our death. It is only then that we will placed in the fire of the kiln, either to be purified in the fires of Purgatory, or destroyed in the fires of Hell. Until then, we must let God shape and form us as clay in His hands.

So, where do you struggle to be clay? 

Where do you struggle in your relationship with God or in doing the things you know He wants you to do? 

Are your struggles coming from a place of not responding to what God is trying to say to you, or not listening to Him in the first place?

This week, take some time to turn off and put away all your devices—phones, watches, pads, computers, and anything else that dings or beeps—and spend some quiet time in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Do not come with a spiritual to-do list. Simply rest and listen for the Lord’s voice.

Secondly, seek out criticism and respond to it with openness and gratitude. Ask your closest friends and family intentional questions like: 

“What do you think I could start or stop doing to make my life better?” 

“What about me is most annoying or troubling to you?”

“How can I be better at _______?”

Do not respond or defend yourself. Ask only those who you know truly love you and will tell you what you need to hear. This practice of openness allows God to speak to us through those around us, and it can help exercise the muscles we need to strengthen in order to hear God more clearly and respond to Him more faithfully. 

I am praying for you, please pray for me and my family, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt