DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, July 19, 2018

And Christ said to His disciples, “The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. – Matthew 13:13-16

I have lived with the frustration of people not understanding me.  Maybe it is the timbre of my voice; maybe, it is the choice of my words; maybe, it is my manner of reasoning or maybe it is what I have experience in life and they have not.  On the other hand, possibly they choose not to listen, to not understand; possibly they are unable to hear for a deafness has come upon them or possibly they have not the faculties to hear my heart.  For whatever or combination of reasons, it has been so frustrating to me.  And I can hear in these words of Christ … it was certainly frustrating to Christ.

Of late, this frustration has been tormenting for I cannot understand why others cannot see the evil I see, the hypocrisy I see, the self-centeredness I see, the emotional dysfunction I see, the wolf I clearly see within his cloak of fleece and flag.  Nowadays so much of my prayerful conversation with Lord is about the question …”Why can they not see what I do see; why can they not hear what I do hear?”  Why?

Is it the distortion that comes when one wears ideological lenses?  Is it the willingness to look the other way for the sake of a specific cause?  Is it an acculturalization that plays havoc with healthy perspective?  Is it the work of angelic-looking demons who have mastered the art of deception, delusion, and distortion of values?  Is it the work of sin too long suppressed?

Lord, why cannot the people see and hear?  Lord, why do I often not see and hear?  Lord, what sinfulness does now flourish among us?

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz