Tag: Communication

Powerful Symbols

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word(s) that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing something entirely different—an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. Symbols are needed for effective communication and are used to convey ideas and beliefs. [adopted from Wikipedia]
   Take, for example, the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
   The pledge, the commitment, is to the Republic—symbolized by the flag. That means that any lack of respect to the flag is construed as a lack of respect to the republic itself. Of course, the flag is just a colorful, cloth construct—but it is treated with the respect and reverence due to what it stands for and represents.
   The Jewish Passover ritual meal uses several symbols—for example, the bitter herbs that symbolized the bondage of the Jewish people in Egypt.
   The last supper of Jesus with his disciples the night before his death was a Passover meal to which he added some additional symbols and meanings—the wine and the broken bread symbolizing his crucifixion and death.
   His followers were challenged to remember and understand these symbols and to celebrate this ritual in the future—what we know as the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
   As the centuries passed, some of the great Christian thinkers and philosophers began to consider whether the words of consecration of the Mass could be and should be taken very literally.

   We still venerate and study the brilliant ideas and explanations of St. Thomas Aquinas, utilizing the Aristotelian concepts of substance and accident.
   However sometimes so much attention was given to his detailed reflections concerning the Eucharist and the real presence that its symbolic aspect, rooted in the Passover ritual was overlooked and forgotten.
   [In the reformation era, a scornful mockery of this aspect of Thomistic theology was called Hocus-Pocus, referring to the words of consecration in the Latin Mass: “Hoc est enim corpus meum” (This is my body)].
   It helps to remember the symbolisms of the Passover meal and the symbolisms that Jesus invoked at the Last Supper. They shouldn’t be overlooked because of our religious heritage or our esteem for Aquinas.
   The consecration of the Tridentine Mass is:
   “Who the day before He suffered took bread into His holy and venerable hands, and with His eyes lifted up heaven, unto Thee, God, His almighty Father, giving thanks to Thee, He blessed, broke and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat ye all of this, for this is My Body.
   “In like manner, after He had supped, taking also this excellent chalice into His holy and venerable hands, and giving thanks to Thee, He blessed and gave it to His disciples, saying: Take and drink ye all of this, for this is the Chalice of My Blood, of the new and eternal testament: the mystery of faith: which shall be shed for you and for many unto the remission of sins.
   “As often as you do these things, ye shall do them in in remembrance of Me.”
   Remember! Respect and reverence!


11 June 2023

Symbols

A symbol is something that represents or stands for something else. For example, the Star of David is a symbol of Judaism and the cross is a symbol of Christianity.
   Every culture has its own symbols and its own customs regarding how its symbols are to be respected and understood.
   If we salute our national flag and treat it with great care, respect, and reverence, it’s not for the flag itself but for the nation and its values that it represents.
   Symbols are important “ingredients” of the Jewish Passover seder, a ritual meal recalling the loving care of God for his people. Special foods are served that are symbolic reminders of events of Jewish history.
   Jesus’ last supper was a seder. According to Luke 22:14-20:
     When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
   Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”
   Jesus introduced two new symbols at this last Passover meal with his disciples.
   At the beginning he broke the blessed bread and distributed it to the apostles saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”
   At the end with the final cup of wine he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”

   Writing to the Corinthians some years later, the apostle Paul said (1 Cor 11:23-26):
   For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
   As the centuries passed and as Christian customs developed and became traditional, these two symbols became the core of the Christian Passover ritual, better known as the Mass or the Eucharist.
   Over the centuries some great saints have reflected deeply about the nature of these symbols and what they symbolize.
   The important thing, of course, is not so much to study and celebrate the symbol itself but what it symbolizes—that’s why we give the care, respect, and reverence to the symbol that belong to what it represents.
   Eating together the broken bread and drinking together the wine is to reaffirm the new covenant and our shared allegiance to it and to proclaim and celebrate the salvific nature of Jesus’ death on the cross.
   The broken bread reminds us that the broken body of Jesus was a sacrificial offering for all of us. The wine reminds us that Jesus’ blood shed on the cross sealed the new covenant.
   Mass is a time for thankful remembrance and for renewing faithful commitments.


20 November 2022

Methodology

When we’re talking or writing about something, we may be speaking literally or figuratively—and both are perfectly respectable, proper, and effective ways to communicate.
   Speaking figuratively is communicating in a non-literal, metaphorical way using images, figures, likenesses, symbols, and such.
   It’s not a lessor way of speaking than literal communication; actually, it often can be more effective and evocative—even poetic.
   Some things, some ideas, are so hard to communicate literally that we must recourse to speaking figuratively. Sometimes we even don’t use words at all—e.g., the maxim, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
   When we’re trying to speak about things that are beyond our detailed and complete understanding we’re almost forced to speak figuratively.
   Sometimes we tend to think that science and scientific speech is better, truer, more accurate, and more effective than religion and religious speech. But, actually, it is often the other way round!
   Good Theology is just as important and vital as good Physics—and maybe more so. But, alas, just as a scientific experiment can be sloppily performed and its reported results untrustworthy, so, too, some theological ideas can be sloppily or naively put together and result in untrustworthy doctrines.
   However, scientific results and theological doctrines may well be accurate and true, even though the way they were arrived at had failings and weaknesses.
   Name notwithstanding, the “Scientific Method,” is a good way to think about all matters, including Science and Religion.
   It is a method of procedure consisting of systematic observation and research, formulation of theories and hypotheses, experimenting and testing them, and reporting conclusions.

   Critical thinking resembles the scientific method. Both involve conjectural insights that must be validated by lived experience. Both respect trial and error.
   Just as the accumulated body of scientific knowledge grows and is constantly revised and further extended, so too does the accumulated body of theological knowledge grow and is constantly revised and further extended.
   Some ideas and conjectures may have been astoundingly radical and controversial when first voiced and now are accepted and presumed as a matter of course.
   Some are articulated in what now may be rejected and out-of-date concepts but which may have been strikingly challenging and provocative when first used.
   There is always a danger that older theories and insights may be ignored or rejected because they use words or concepts that are different then current usage—the classic danger of “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
   Just because a theory, description, doctrine, or way of communicating seems hopelessly out-of-date doesn’t mean it lacks insight or value. It may still be a stepping-stone to something newer, greater, and even more insightful, useful, and significant.
   Clinging to older, out-of-date ideas, concepts, and values is understandable but not commendable. A good scientist or theologian, a good thinker or believer always is testing and experimenting with new or revised insights and theories.
   Don’t tire! The process never ends. We are limited in our understandings; only God is omniscient. Rejoice in having a rich heritage, but don’t store your fortune or squander it—use it well and make it grow!


6 November 2022

Vatican II Pandemic

A key factor in the development of my life was Vatican Council II—not because of studying about it, but because I was there!
   No, I wasn’t a member of the council (that was for bishops only), and I wasn’t an appointed theological expert. But I did attend half the council—the second and third of the four annual sessions (1962-1965)—as an “assignator loci” (“usher” you could say; actually, a sort of staff attendant).
   It was held in St. Peter’s Basilica. Each tiered section of bishops had one priest assigned to assist them and do whatever needed to be done: distribute documents to the bishops; distribute blank voting cards (IBM punched cards) and collect them and bring to a central processing office in the basilica; deliver messages during the council sessions to the presiding officers of the council, even to the pope in his quarters.
   I also heard all the speeches during these working sessions of the Council, had copies of and studied all the working documents, and was fortunate to learn from the so many distinguished bishops and priests that shared their views in talks to us U.S. priest-students at our residence in Rome.
   Happily, I had arrived in Rome a week before the start of the Council to begin my studies for a doctorate in Canon Law.
   I was in Assisi when Pope John XXIII made an unprecedented trip there to pray at the tomb of St. Francis for the success of the Council just before it started.
   I was in St. Peter’s Basilica for the opening of the Council, a pontifical Mass, fortunately standing very near the main altar.
   An unforgettable and moving thing for me that day was to see Pope John, the celebrant of the Mass, kneeling down over the burial place of St. Peter to recite the Nicene Creed before the bishops of the world, professing his and their and the whole Church’s common faith: Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentum . . .

   Some commentators describe the Council as contentious, but this was not my experience. Overwhelmingly the Council was a spiritual event for all concerned.
   Every morning I saw bishops kneeling on the cold marble floor of the transept of the basilica in silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in preparation for the day’s work.
   Every daily session began with a Liturgy at a modest altar table in the central aisle of the basilica between the banks of seats on both sides; all the rites of the Church had their turn and some were surprising—for example, the Geez rite used drums and dance!
   During my three years in Rome, although the Council was in session only for a few months each Fall, it dominated church life.
   My assigned personal duty was to develop some expertise in the law of the Church, but the vitality and excitement of my life in Rome was the amazing and wonderful experience of the Council.
   What a sad surprise it was, back in New York during the final session of the Council, to discover that most people there didn’t realize what an astounding event in the life of the Church was taking place.
   In some small way I brought some of the Council spirit to my work in the Chancery Office. Many evenings and weekends I would visit convents in the diocese to talk to women religious who were eager to learn about the Council and the new perspectives it was bringing to their lives.
   Priests in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where I lived, were also glad to know more of the Council and its teachings.
   I was severely infected by Vatican II. For the past 60 years I keep trying to remain contagious!


23 October 2022

Mairzy Doats

This is the title of a once very popular song, composed in 1943. The words looked strange and were spelt strangely, but, somehow, they sounded right and made sense:
   Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey.
   A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?
   One of the song’s writers said it was inspired by an old nursery rhyme:
   Cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharksy doisters.
   With due respect, the way we used to sing and pray in Latin had some similarities. We didn’t necessarily understand many, if not most, of the words, but overall, we had a good sense of what we were all about!
   It reminds me of a saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:
   Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.
   In other words, everything we say (or preach or write) may not necessarily be fully or clearly understood, but, overall, it’s through the way we live our lives that we are successfully communicating!
   I studied the Latin language for several years, and, later, I studied in Latin for several years. That included attending Latin lectures, reading Latin text books, writing Latin documents, and even defending a point of view in oral Latin.
   But, no matter my fluency—or lack thereof—the language never could have the emotional impact, evocativeness, and nuanced meaning my native language could and did.
   At times there were Latin words that didn’t entirely make sense to me, but usually I understood the overall message!
   Very often many traditional religious words, sayings, rites, customs, and practices seem like that. We may not necessarily understand all the details, but, overall, we get the idea!

   Some of the canonized saints were great philosophers, theologians, canonists, or founders of religious orders, but they were not singled out because of the sermons they preached, or the books they wrote, or the organizations they created.
   They were distinguished because of the quality of the lives they lived and how they affected and impacted the lives of those that knew them.
   Maybe some of their enterprises were good and successful—and maybe not. Maybe they lasted—and maybe not. No matter!
   Maybe you have no idea what mairzy doats means, and maybe, in any case, you don’t care. It’s okay!
   Maybe you know exactly what a kiddley divery too means, and you wouldn’t. So, what!
   Certain words, songs, books, movies, sermons, classes, videos, programs, etc. may or may not be useful to one or another of us. We may even debate their merits with others.
   But to allow the differences of opinion and diversity of interests to become barriers dividing us into conflicting groups is basically, as Mr. Spock would say, illogical.
   It is an indisputable fact that each and every person is unique and no two people are ever or ever can be absolutely identical.
   Therefore, every joining together with another involves compromise (not entirely doing things your way), compassion (enduring things together), and collaboration (achieving something, but not necessarily all that you would prefer).
   Try to use nice words, but above all it’s being nice that counts!


25 September 2022

Frames of Reference

Frame of reference:  a structure of concepts, values, customs, views, etc., by means of which an individual or group perceives or evaluates data, communicates ideas, and regulates behavior.

   We all have and utilize frames of reference, and much of the time we barely realize it or advert to them.
   Here’s a simple example. When I was a child and started school in New York City, the first question I was asked by the other kids was, “What are you?”
   In those days and in that place, the question meant, “What is your national background or family origins?”
   (Since the United States was generally an immigrant country, what differentiated people was the country they or their parents or other relatives came from.)
   I never had a simple answer like Italian, French, or English. I had to explain that my father was of German descent (German Jewish, since “Stern” was immediately identified as a Jewish name) and my mother, of Irish descent (presumably Catholic of course).
   My parents had agreed before marriage to raise their children as Catholics, and so I was, but the confusion lingered. Even as a young priest, sometimes I was asked how old I was when I converted (i.e., became a baptized Catholic)?
   Sometimes I enjoyed answering, “A couple of hours!” My birth was difficult for my mother, and I was presumably dying at birth and hastily baptized.
   The expected kind of answer to, “What are you?” would have been very different in another place or time. The answer might well have been your caste, trade, tribe, or social class.
   Some other frames of reference in our lives are more subtle and less obvious.

   For example, religious teachings, practices, and beliefs. First, they vary among different religions, but they also vary within the same religion. They may be fixed and unchanging or developing and evolving.
   In Christian tradition we still have a lot of words and practices which originated in and reflect a different physical, scientific, social, or other frame of reference. For example:
   – a flat world: the good go up (heaven) and the bad go down (hell).
   – a ranking of persons: “clergy” (upper or ruling class) and “laity’ (lower or subject class).
   – degrees or kinds of divinity or godliness: the blessed Trinity, angels and their ranks and functions, saints and their distinctiveness and roles.
   Often religious misunderstandings and conflicts are rooted in frames of reference that are not recognized as such.
   If you’re familiar with the great works of St. Thomas Aquinas, you can’t help but be dazzled by their depth and breadth. But, his frames of reference, besides Christian faith and the customs of his day included the philosophy of the pagan Aristotle.
   Many disagreements within Christianity are rooted in different cultures, practices, historical traditions, and linguistic systems.
   A holy writer esteemed by some may be considered as unintelligible by others.
   “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin” may once have been a legitimate topic for debate among scholars long ago, but now is usually dismissed as a ridiculous and even meaningless question.
   The point is, we all have frames of reference. Try to be aware of them. and try to keep yours up to date!


30 January 2022

Getting in Touch with God

For millennia, god-seekers would go to special places better to communicate with a particular god. Often they would go to a special building dedicated or consecrated to the worship or service of the god.
   It was not only dedicated to the particular god but also was considered the principal place for the public and private worship of that god in the neighborhood, town, province, or country.
   It was often referred to as the house of the god, as though the god lived in that place—or at least that a believer could especially get in touch with the god there.
   And, there was a tendency to presume that if the special building, the temple, was bigger and more beautiful than most others, access to the god would be easier and better.
   According to the Bible, a god got in touch with Abraham, and Abraham dutifully did what the god asked of him. His immediate descendants worshiped that same god as their family god, known first as the God of Abraham, then the God of Abraham and Isaac, then the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
   Moses encountered this god of the Israelites, first in the experience of the burning bush and then later on the mountain. This god of their ancestors made a covenant with them to be their god and they, in turn, to be his people.
   He promised to lead them through Sinai to a promised land of plenty and instructed them how to worship him.
   At first it was on the mountain, then later where the ark, the portable precious container for the stone tablets of the covenant, was kept.
   Hundreds of years later, the Israelites now living in the promised land, it fell to Solomon to build a temple to house the ark, the privileged place of communication with their god, and to provide a place for sacrificial worship of him.

   Although one of the commands of the covenant was not to have any other gods before the God of Israel, many years later prophets began to teach that not only should the Israelites not worship any other god but also that no other god really exists!
   That temple of Solomon, destroyed, then later rebuilt, and still later expanded, was finally and definitively destroyed by the Romans.
   The faithful descendants of the early Israelites, then known as Jews, never had a temple again—but they assembled for learning and praying in local buildings, called synagogues, thereafter.
   The early Jesus-followers, initially Jews all, followed this same tradition, assembling for learning and praying, for “the breaking of the bread,” in local gathering places, later known as churches.
   Hundreds of years later, when Christianity was established as the official religion of the Roman Empire, churches began to be considered more like temples, in the sense of a special building for worshiping a god.
   For us, is a church the only place to get in touch with God? No, the church is a special, assembly place, but individual worshipers can get in touch with God anywhere his presence can be discerned or manifested.
   Since the one God is the creator of all things and people, that actually means everywhere, in everything, and through everyone. God can be found and seen in all his works, in all the wonder of his creations and creatures.
   It’s challenging to realize that everyone and anyone, no matter how unlikely they may seem, may manifest something of God to us and that we may be able to get in touch with God through them.


19 December 2021

Preaching the Gospel

What is it, exactly, that a priest or deacon does or should be doing at Mass after the reading of the Gospel?
   Traditionally, we call it “preaching”, meaning  1. the act or practice of a person who preaches.  2. the art of delivering sermons.  3. a sermon.
   But this is kind of circular, since “sermon” is defined as  1. a discourse for the purpose of religious instruction or exhortation, especially one based on a text of Scripture and delivered by a member of the clergy as part of a religious service.  2. Any serious speech, discourse, or exhortation, especially on a moral issue.  3. a long, tedious speech.
   Religious instruction implies “teaching”, usually defined as 1. to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in.  2. To impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to.
   I suppose that there often is an element of teaching in what is communicated after the Gospel, but Mass shouldn’t be the main place and time  for teaching religion or scripture. However, stimulating reflection about the meaning and implications of well-known religious teachings may be useful or appropriate.
   Exhortation is  1. the act or process of exhorting.  2. An utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendations. Advising or recommending a course of action to someone makes sense and may be helpful, so long as it avoids becoming doctrinaire, partisan, or divisive.
   Years ago, in seminary days, we had a minor course in public speaking and homiletics. It had some excellent advice about how to communicate effectively and to organize a sermon or address.
   I still remember what one of our (lay) professors called “The Magic Formula”. It consisted of four key components: Ho Hum, Why Bring That Up, For Instance, and So What.

   Ho Hum: you need to capture the attention of your listeners, usually by something unexpected but interesting.
   Why Bring That Up: you need to establish a personal connection between your listeners and the topic at hand, illustrating why it is important for them.
   For Instance: practical examples, appropriate to the situation of your listeners, are needed to stimulate remembrance of what they already may know and/or critical thinking about it.
   So What: the reason for having a sermon or homily is motivation—to motivate the listeners to choose and implement a course of action, to do something, or to change their behavior.
   I must confess, after all these years, that this simple plan is still a personal checklist for me. Each of these four elements seems vital to a successful and effective sermon.
   But, there’s more to preaching than a formula at play; the real “magic” is the Holy Spirit influencing the life, action, and words of both the speaker and the listeners.
   There’s an odd word you could use to describe this: “ventriloquism”. Usually that’s defined as the art or practice of speaking with little or no lip movement, in such a manner that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source, as from a wooden dummy.
   In preaching, a sort of ventriloquism happens. But, it’s not the preacher who is the ventriloquist—the preacher is the wooden dummy! The words that come from the preacher’s mouth often are inspired by God and touch the mind and hearts of all those who listen—including the mind and heart of the preacher himself/herself!


5 December 2021

Outdated Language

The language we speak is changing all the time. That’s why we need dictionaries. They tell us where each word comes from, what it originally meant, how it used to be used, what it means now.
   Geoffrey Chaucer, born around 1340 in London, is called the father of English literature. His famous work is The Canterbury Tales. You think you know English? Try reading it exactly as he wrote it.
   You may more or less understand it, but you’ll find yourself often stumped by unfamiliar words or words spelt differently and/or that have a different meaning now than they did when Chaucer wrote them.
   You think you know English? Try visiting different English speaking countries and different neighborhoods within them. I once was in a train to Liverpool near a group of teenagers returning home. I couldn’t understand their conversation at all!
   You think you know English? Spoken Indian English is rapid and can be hard to understand for an American. Once in India, I asked a friend if he had a similar difficulty with my (New York style, American) English. Yes, he said, you speak with such a drawl!
   You know where and when we still use a lot of old, outdated English words? In our religious language and traditional prayers.
   For example, the Our Father. We still use some outdated words, but, hopefully, not with their outdated meanings.
   We refer to God as in the sky (heaven). We pray that his name be hallowed (made, be regarded as holy), but the main way we use that word now-a-days is for Halloween.
   We ask that his kingdom be established, but how familiar are we really with ancient Middle East kings and kingdoms?
   Do we really want to be led away from all temptation? If we avoid every place and situation of temptation, we’d be rather shut in. But, we do want the strength to resist the daily temptations in our lives.

   When we ask for forgiveness of trespasses, we don’t mean unlawfully entering upon someone else’s private property.
   Another obvious example, the Hail Mary. We know about hailstorms, we may hail a cab, and we know about ship to ship encounters, but now to attract someone’s attention we’re more likely to “hey”.
   We say she is full of grace, but we don’t mean elegance or beauty, rather that she was favored by God or in a state of holiness.
   When we say she is blessed, we don’t mean that she’s lucky or a winner; we mean she bespeaks God, that the love and mercy of God shows forth through her life.
   “Mother of God” doesn’t mean that she has begotten the creator of the universe nor that God’s genetic makeup is from her. It refers to the divinity of Jesus, her son.
   I’m not knocking anything, just reminding that in religious talk we comfortably use many words whose meaning has shifted.
   A few more examples:
   Church—do we mean a consecrated building or an assembly of believers?
   Altar—do we mean a place where offerings are burnt or a dining table?
   Mass—do we mean a holy sacrifice or a remembrance of Jesus’ life and death and a communal act of thanksgiving (eucharist)?
   Priest—do we mean an ordained official or an elder (presbyter) in a community of believers?
   Confess—do we mean to plead guilty to a sin or crime or to proclaim one’s belief or allegiance?
   Communion—do we mean the consecrated host or a shared fellowship?
   It’s okay to use outdated language, but it’s important to be clear about what we mean!


14 November 2021

God Doesn’t Shout

Chapter 19 of the 1st book of Kings tells of Elijah’s encounter with God on the mountain:

There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.

   When Elijah heard the light silent sound he knew he was in the presence of God.
   We may yearn to know the will of God, to know what God expects of us. We may yearn to hear his voice.
   The Bible tells of us of the experience of others, of how they perceived the will of God, of how they heard his voice.
   The lives of the saints are similar. We learn how they came to discern God’s will, how they heard God’s call.
   We may cry out in the depths of our hearts, “Lord, why did you allow this to happen? Lord, where are you leading me? Lord, what do you want of me?
   Can it be that God ignores our plea? that God doesn’t hear our cry? that God is indifferent to our plight?
   No!
   God always answers—and God often answers in ways we do not expect.
   If you’re expecting dramatic divine intervention in your life like the experience of St. Paul the Apostle on the road to Damascus, you may be waiting in vain. In fact, you may be missing or completely misunderstanding God’s way of communication. God may be speaking, but it is you who do not hear!
   When the people heard the crash of thunder and the flashes of lighting they “knew” that God was speaking to Moses.
   But Moses—and Elijah—knew better.

   Three special ways God speaks to us are through the created universe, the teachings of Jesus, and in the depths of our hearts.
   The problem is not that God is not talking to us. The problem lies with us, that we are often deaf, dumb, and stupid—we don’t see, hear, sense, feel, taste, discern, understand, or comprehend.
   Elijah in the depth of depression and despair, went into the desert to die—and yet he was summoned to stand before God on the mountain and hear his voice. At least he was not so far gone that he misconstrued the violence of nature as the voice of God. He listened for the light silent sound!
   The sonnet of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How do I love thee?”, could also be a reflection about “How do I hear thee?”:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.


12 September 2021