There’s a little line in the Gospel reading that could pass us right by, or at least puzzle us to the extent that we forget it and move on. But I don’t think we should. That line is: “Take care what you hear.” It closely follows Jesus’ other hearing-related line: “Everyone who has ears ought to hear.”
Sometimes we choose to hear just what we want to hear, sometimes we pick news sources and podcasts that are less than ethical and cause us consternation and detract from the Truth, and that is absolutely the opposite of what our Lord is counseling today. Instead, we ought to be ready to hear the Truth, and to speak and witness to that Truth at all times, like a lamp on a lampstand.
And so we might spend less time on the internet and in front of the television, and instead devote more time to prayer, reading and studying scripture, and activities that help us to grow in our faith. The parish always has one or two Bible studies going on, and there’s even a class right now studying the Creed, that statement of Truth on which we base our faith.
It is much like the story of the conversion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who during recovery after injury in battle, read both romantic stories and stories of the saints. He discovered that reading the romantic stories left him feeling anxious and empty, but reading the stories of the saints left him uplifted and wanting to hear more. The Truth is like that. Take care what you hear.
We will be measured by our willingness to be people of Truth, and when we have courage to bring the Truth to a world in need of hearing it, still more graces will be measured out to us.
Take care what you hear.