Listen to him
The theme for the third week of the Lenten campaign is Listen to him, which is from the gospel account of Jesus’ transfiguration, where the voice of the Father said: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5). Here “listen” has two dimensions, firstly hear and then obey, that is, practice after listen. To hear Jesus, we must first empty our souls and let his word enter our hearts so that we may treasure and ponder them as Mary did (Luke 1:19) That is why Jesus said: “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Mark 4:9)
Now let us take the example of Jesus himself. The fifth joyful mystery of the Rosary is on the finding of the 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple. The gospel of Luke records: “they found Jesus in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions” (Luke 2:46b). Luke further recounts: “Jesus went down with his parents and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them”(Luke 2:51). This shows that in his childhood, Jesus learned through listening and asking questions and, above all, by obeying his parents.
Then coming to his public ministry, before he started preaching, Jesus was tempted by the devil. His first response was: “Scripture says: one does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus clearly proclaimed that listening to and obeying God’s Word is the essence of life.
Finally when facing his death in Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for you; take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). No wonder the Book of Hebrews says that although Jesus was Son, he learned through suffering what obedience was (Hebrews 5:8). St. Paul in his famous Christological creed, wrote: “… though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2: 6-8)
Society today is overwhelmed by division and hostility. This is not unique to Hong Kong, but prevails everywhere in the world. Everyone chooses to listen only to what they favour, rejecting all other different views. Enhanced by the rapid development of the Internet and social media, this so-called echo chamber effect has been brought into full play.
It is regrettable that even the Church of Christ is not immune to this pandemic. We are unwilling to imitate our Lord and empty and humble ourselves to listen to the different voices of our brethren. We fail to contemplate Jesus’ parable of the “speck and log” (Matthew 7:3-5) and seem to forget the Lord’s New Commandment to love one another.
To overcome this “pandemic”, the traditional spiritual exercises of Lent may perhaps be the ultimate “vaccine.”
Let us reassure ourselves by emptying ourselves through fasting and abstinence, listening to and reflecting on the Word of God (prayer and scripture reading), and committing to his commandment (works of charity).
To make donations to the Lenten Campaign online, please visit: https://www.caritas.org.hk/en/e_donation
Lenten Campaign Organising Committee, 2021
