Click here for today’s Scripture readings.
1 Tm 6:13-16
Lk 8:4-15
A friend once told me this story: A countryman came to the city to meet a friend. As they were walking through the bustling streets, the countryman said to his city friend, “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” the city man asked
“There is a cricket in that bush!” he said pointing to the bush at the nearby street corner.
“How can you hear the sound of a tiny cricket among all the noises of the city? There can’t possibly be a cricket in that bush!”
Sure enough, the two of them walked over and the countryman found a lone cricket sitting on a branch of the bush.
“I don’t understand,” the city man said, “It amazes me that you can hear the sound of that tiny cricket in this huge city!”
“I am a country man, my ears know this sound and I can hear it among the other noises that are not familiar to me.”
As he said that, a couple of coins dropped behind the two friends. At the sound of the coins dropping, the city man turned around.
The countryman said, “It amazes me that among all these noises in the city you can hear the sound of money.”
In this story, the two men walk through the same noisy city, yet their ears pick up on different sounds based on what they are familiar to hearing – one the sound of a cricket, the other the sound of money. This story and today’s gospel – the parable of the sower and seed- contain a similar message about the importance of listening and challenge us to examine what we choose to listen to in our lives.
Hearing and listening are two very different things. We can imagine that in the story there were many noises in the city – the sounds of cars, buses, horns honking, people talking, noises that both undoubtly heard, however what they listened to varied between the two friends. We listen to things we value. Today’s gospel challenges us to think about what we listen to – do we listen to the word of God or are we like the city man who listens and responds to the sound of money or other worldly things? Many say that they cannot hear God – perhaps it is because we haven’t taken the time first to teach our ears how to listen for God’s voice, how to hear it and distinguish it among the hustle and bustle of our busy lives. We have to examine our lives and seek to uproot whatever keeps us from listening to God and nourish that which keeps us attune to God’s word and grounded in our faith.
There is still one more message we can glean from the parable today. I believe that the parable wants to tell us more than just what will happen to us if we don’t listen to God’s word, but rather, the parable wants us to imagine what possibilities God’s word holds in store for each person. I think of the movie August Rush in which August, an 8 year old musical genius, walks through New York City and hears the ordinary sounds of the city as a musical orchestra. Each sound creates an explosion of music in his brain and he begins to write musical notes for each sound he hears and eventually composes an incredible symphony performed for thousands of people. He says in the movie, “Music is all around us, all you have to do is listen.” He is right. Music surrounds us in our ordinary, messy human lives. God’s word is this music – it is everywhere, waiting to be heard, filled with a potential energy that awaits us hearing it, capturing it, and using it to bear fruit. When we discover God’s word, when takes root in our being, we are harmonized, energized and are able to weather the hardships to ultimately bear good fruit. The first step begins in listening. And though listening may seem like a passive process, I believe that we are called to make it an active process. We are called to seek out God’s word, to seek out the music and beauty in life and begin composing the symphony that God designed us to compose.
Jean Baumgardner
St. Vincent de Paul Society – Milwaukee, Meal Programs Manager
2009-2010 Passionist Volunteer International in Honduras
