Treadwell
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Priest asks whether Christ's call enters the ear or the heart
7:49
The priest asks whether the Lord's words "He who has ears, let him hear" reach the ear only or the heart, and whether we listen to change our lives or merely hear familiar words. He compares this to marriage: couples vow to love forever, but when difficulties come they stop listening to the heart, turn to the world and their own wants, things fall apart, and they blame each other instead of admitting their own unfaithfulness.
He recounts an artist who invited him to bless a first major exhibit on the Upper East Side about twenty years ago. At the exhibit the artist showed a massive paper piece the size of the church and identified it as a helicopter. In the next hall he became angry when workers hung a large arc upside down and backwards despite his instructions.
The workers said they had tried four ways and this was best, but the artist replied, "I don't care what you think. I did it. You didn't do it. You have it wrong. What I made is what it is, not what you want it to be." The priest applies the story: God made us and told us what He wants us to be, yet we insist on turning His design around to please ourselves and tell God to give us what we want instead of listening to Him.
We cannot change what God has made; we can only distort it in our own lives to our detriment, and we must ask for grace to plant God's word in the heart rather than letting it disappear or listening to our desires. This life is a moment and the next is eternity; we cannot take worldly things with us, and chasing money, politics, and culture leaves us empty, while the world gives only a grave.
Baptism promises eternal life and joy only if we follow Christ, not our greed, because He alone makes and keeps promises.
Key moments
- The priest asks whether the Lord's call "He who has ears, let him hear" enters the ear or the heart, and whether we truly listen to change our lives or just hear familiar words.
- He compares this to marriage: couples vow to love forever, but when difficulties come they stop listening to the heart, listen to the world and their own wants, things fall apart, and they blame each other instead of admitting their own unfaithfulness.
- He tells of a parish artist who invited him to bless his first major exhibit on the Upper East Side about twenty years ago.
- At the exhibit, the artist showed a massive paper piece the size of the church and identified it as a helicopter, then in the next hall became angry when workers hung a large arc upside down and backwards despite his instructions.
- The workers said they had tried four ways and this was best, but the artist replied, "I don't care what you think. I did it. You didn't do it. You have it wrong. What I made is what it is, not what you want it to be."
- The priest applies the story: God made us and told us what He wants us to be, yet we insist on turning His design around to please ourselves and tell God to give us what we want instead of listening to Him.
- We cannot change what God has made; we can only distort it in our own lives to our detriment, and we must ask for grace to plant God's word in the heart rather than letting it disappear or listening to our desires.
- This life is a moment and the next is eternity; we cannot take worldly things with us, and chasing money, politics, and culture leaves us empty, while the world gives only a grave, baptism promises eternal life and joy only if we follow Christ, not our greed, because He alone makes and keeps promises.