Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
This single utterance of Christ in the Gospel today underscores the importance of intentionality in daily life. In order to hear the word of God, we have to be open to hearing it in the first place. Openness to God entails a certain disposition of receptivity. It means that we desire to know his will for our lives. It means recognizing that God really does will our highest and greatest good at all times, and ultimately that God wants better things for us than we could ever want for ourselves.
There is a certain paradox in that God has created our hearts to desire infinite love, joy, peace, and fulfillment, but that we often reject the things that God has prepared for us. Instead, we often go chasing after things that seem fun, exciting, pleasurable, or that we think will satisfy us in the moment. The reality, however, is that no finite thing, experience, good, or pleasure in this mortal life can ever begin to compare to the things that God has prepared for us. There is nothing that will ever completely satisfy our hearts save the love of God.
In order to receive these things, however, we have to be open to relationship with God in the first place. An important question is whether we really want to hear the voice of God. Do we want to know what he desires for us? Are we really open to change? Are we willing to let go and surrender control? Or are there other things we are still clinging to?