“And a voice came from the heavens”
The Word of God is mentioned a lot in our faith and should be clearly understood. The prophets speak the Word of God. Jesus is the Word made flesh. Holy Scripture is called the Word of God. Words tell us a lot about a person. We can listen to a person for 30 minutes and tell a lot about them just by their words, this is what psychologists are trained in. Words can label a person forever, especially in the world of politics. Because words and personality are so integrated, we sometimes anticipate or project what a person will say or would say. We sometimes say, “Oh, I know that person and they wouldn’t say that”, or we say, “I know her and she would totally say that.” To make an assumption of what a person would say is unfair. It is equally unfair to judge a person on only a few words. We must look at the sum of a person’s words.
Search: Seven Words (Part I)
In the Gospel at Mass we hear that a “voice came from heaven”. What do people/we expect to hear from the voice of God? In a society, which is sometimes angry at God and has even rejected God; people can unfairly assume what the voice of God says. People may also attribute words or phrases to God, which are not realistic. People may also pick a few words of God, which might portray Him as angry or hostile, and then disregard the whole picture, the sum of the words of God.
When there is not a clear and correct belief in God, there will not be a clear and correct voice of God. People will hear, not the voice of God, but rather what they think the voice of God is. The Apostle Paul tells us that, “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.” [1] If Christ is not preached, the voice of God will not be heard and if the voice of God is not heard, there will be no faith in God, nor Christ, nor the Church. We must preach Christ, the Gospel. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” [2] It is easy to be judgmental towards Atheists and those who either do not believe that God speaks or those that have a skewed view of the voice of God. Before we judge, we must as the question, does this person know the Gospel; have they heard the preaching of Christ? Many times people have not heard the Gospel or the Gospel has been presented to them in a false way.
How can we then preach Christ? How can we share the Gospel? We start with the simple stories of Christ’s life found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We start with the twenty mysteries of the Rosary, which are all based on the Gospel. We start with the parables of Christ. Share the Gospel and let God speak for Himself, we do not need to speak on behalf of God, for He has spoken to all of humanity through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Good News, the Gospel.
We can see many misconceptions of the voice of God in our modern culture. In the movie Dogma, it is stated that Christians “act out of fear of an intangible parent figure that shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says do it or I’ll spank you.” Only those who are baptized can call God Father and know that “Our Father” does not say “Do it or I will spank you?” We instead know the totality of the Word of God. The Christian, “as an ‘adopted son’ can call God ‘Father,’ in union with the only Son.” [3] And because they are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ [4] We call God, “Our Father” and so we that pray this prayer must listen to the voice of the Father, not what others say the voice of the Father is. In regards to “spanking” or punishment, we are reminded of the words of Saint Paul to the Hebrews, “You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: ‘My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” [5] The chastisement of God brings only good. We are “sons” of God and therefore will be chastises as Christ was chastised. “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured. While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.” [6]
What do we expect a father to say? We see an example of a Father’s love in the Old Testament in the following words in which God is compared to a loving mother. “Could a mother ever forget her infant, and not take compassion on the child of here womb? Even if a mother should forget, I would never forget you, says the Lord. My father and my mother have neglected me, but you, Lord, have lifted me up. Even if a mother should forget, I would never forget you, says the Lord” [7] We look especially to the New Testament with a focus on the Gospel, the Life of Jesus, who is the “Word made flesh” [8]. If anyone thinks that the voice of God is angry, condescending or punishing they need only to look at the Jesus, the Word made flesh. The totality of Jesus’s life is the Word of God. The phrase, actions speak louder than words could not be truer than in the life of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
If people say that the voice of God is condescending, angry and punishing, how can we refute these falsehoods through the example of the Gospel? We remember Jesus saying; “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” [9] There are two comings of Jesus. The first coming, we celebrate during Christmas and meditate on as Christians “is in the flesh and in weakness, and is for the salvation, not for the judgment of the world.” [10] The second coming, which is of judgment, we meditate on during the season of Advent. Jesus comes not to condemn but to heal. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” [11] We also point to the actual voice of God in the Gospel today, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Does the voice of God in today’s Gospel sound condescending, angry, and punishing? These are nice and lovely words from God, not words of condensation, anger or punishment. God says that He is pleased with His Son.
We sometimes have the misconception that God’s voice is booming. In the book of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah doesn’t hear God’s voice in an earthquake or a fire but in a whisper. Some may expect condensation, anger, and punishment in the voice of God. It is not just to project these negative feelings or attributes onto God.
What do we hear from the voice of God in today’s Gospel? We hear, “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” How does God’s Word appear in the New Testament? First we must realize that the Word of God does not change from Old Testament to New Testament, it is the same Word, for God does not change. The Word however is revealed fully in the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ. “This Word, this Wisdom, is show us under the appearance of a Child. Let nothing keep us from approaching him. We might fear were he seated on a throne in his palace; but he is lying on a crib in a stable…what courage is needed to go near him in Bethlehem, where all is sweetness and silence, and a simple Little Babe!” [12] In the Old Testament, the Word of God is revealed in a whisper. In the New Testament, it is not in a whisper, but rather in complete silence, for even a baby cannot whisper or utter a single word. We remember this silence in the Christmas Carol “Silent Night”. Why the silence? Why does God choose in the Nativity to be silent, what could come from silence? “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace.” [13] It is the Christ child born on that silent night that brings peace to the world. A baby cannot speak at all for many years and so it is with the Christ child that speaks not through His words as He takes on flesh but rather through His example. We cannot argue with a baby, in fact we cannot use our ears at all, but must use our eyes and behold Him that comes to save us. We hear the words “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world” [14] and we are reminded that we must behold before we can receive.
Communication is two ways. We must hear the voice of God but we must also let our voice be heard. How can we most perfectly let our voice be heard? In the Liturgy, the prayers of the Church, “the Church is praying through my mouth, I offer Her my tongue to pray with Her for all the great objectives of redemption, and for God’s honor and glory.” [15] This is why at the Mass we listen to the prayers but also join our mind, heart and lips to those prayers. We also do this through the Liturgy of the Hours. The Liturgy of the Hours is very often chanted by monks and nuns and done so more like a whisper than a song, thus in the chant we recall the same whisper that Elijah heard on the mountain. This whisper or soft chant is more impressive the larger the community that is chanting. The Church also has countless prayers and devotions, such as the Rosary. In prayers such as the Hail Mary we are joining our words with the words of great Saints such as the Angel Gabriel “Hail Mary, full of Grace” [16], Saint Elizabeth “Blessed are you among woman” [17] and all the faithful past, present and future “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
Conversion includes not just hearing the voice of God, but calling out to God. It is the process of hearing, believing and calling upon God. “But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” [18] We remember that it is not we that call God first, but rather He that calls us first. He calls, we believe. This believe lead us to proclaim and call His name and say, “But Thou, O Lord, art in our midst, and Thy holy name is called upon by us; do not forsake us, O Lord our God.” [19] What is important then is that the voice of God is heard and that it is the actual voice of God, not what people believe to be the voice of God. When the voice of God is heard, it must also be kept. Jesus compares those whom keep the word of God, to His Mother. “A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him [Jesus], ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Have we heard the word of God, correctly? It is important to listen to the Church, who is the guardian and interpreter of the Word of God. Do we keep the Word of God? Do will live out the Gospel? We can do this by living out the prayer said in Mass, “May the Lord be in your heart and on your lips that you may proclaim his Gospel worthily and well.” [20]
STORY – A Father and Son
There was once a father and son going to market to get produce for the family’s meal that night. While on the way to the market, the son became restless and wanted to wander and explore in the woods next to the road. The father and son where in a carriage pulled by a single horse so the father agreed to let the son explore the woods as long as he kept near the road and continue to walk in the direction of the market. The father told the son that he would call out his son’s name often and that if the son could not hear his voice or that if the voice was very soft that the son would need to immediately run in the direction of the voice so that he would not get lost. We often want to explore life and not sit at the side of our loving Father, God. Our hope is to one day sit at His side with Christ after our resurrection, but for now, while on this earth our sinful desire is to wander. We must always however listen to the voice of God. What does it mean if we don’t hear the voice of God, or that voice is faint or unclear? This means we have wandered too far in our sin, we have lost sight of the path, of God. We must hear the voice of God again and hear it clearly so that we can orient our life and align it with God.
[1] Romans 10:17
[2] Romans 10:15
[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church; Section 1997
[4] Galatians 4
[5] Hebrews 12:5-6
[6] Isaiah 53:4-5
[7] Responsory- From the Office of Readings December 22 – Isaiah 49:15; Psalm 27:10
[8] John 1:14
[9] John 3:17
[10] Abbot Gueranger, O.S.G; The Liturgical Year; Vol. 3, Christmas, Book II; page 19
[11] Mark 2:17
[12] Abbot Gueranger, O.S.G; The Liturgical Year; Vol. 3, Christmas, Book II; page 21
[13] Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
[14] The Order of the Mass; The Communion Rite (John 1:29)
[15] Divine Office; Introduction; section i
[16] Luke 1:28
[17] Luke 1:42
[18] Romans 10:14
[19] Little Chapter; Sunday Common of Compline; Divine Office (Jeremiah 14:9)
[20] The Order of the Mass; Liturgy of the Word