Posted by The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Ferdinand Alfante SVD – Catholic Trade Manila
Wednesday 16th Week in Ordinary Time
“Listening in one ear and out of the other” is a famous Filipino idiom which is opposite the message of the Gospel for today, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” We are reminded to be attentive to the message of God in our lives.
The gift of two ears affords us the privilege to listen. If we connect these two ears together, they form the shape of a heart. Interestingly, the inner letters of the heart read “ear.” Thus, the proper listening to the Word of God is through our heart. If we plant the Word of God in our heart, which is the rich soil in today’s Gospel, we surely produce much fruits which are concretely seen in our good deeds (a hundred or sixty or thirty-fold).
Let us also be aware that all letters of the word ‘listen’ are also in the word ‘silent’. Thus, the proper listening to the Word of God is reflecting in the silence of our heart, like Mary who “treasured all these things and pondering them in her heart” (Lk. 2:19).
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