Third Way to Stymie Grace
Calling All Lovers
Photo By: Flickr/Waiting For The Word
A little -known ecological tragedy was recently discovered by ornithologists: Some song birds are breeding less and thus nearing extinction because traffic noise drowns out their mating calls.
Love-communication is ineffectual if it is not heard. For those who truly "know" him, God's love-calls are heard in spite of the abounding raucous noises of worldly distractions. "His sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they...do not recognize a stranger's voice" (Jn 10:4-5).
Yet it is not enough to know the shepherd's voice. Each sheep must also learn to know the shepherd himself: Among humans, one cannot fall in love with a voice - even through it is recognized or "known." It is only possible to love a person - when that person is known. "I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (v.14). This "personal knowing of the Lord is salvific for those who are aware of its necessity: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3).
"Knowing" the voice in the love-call leads to a "knowing" of the divine caller. Only then can we go on to truly love him. Jesus, while praying to the Father, explains this divine dynamic "Righteous Father, I have made you known to them...in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them" (Jn 17:25-26). That's how we "fall in love with God."
This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net
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About the Author
The Rev. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952, is a member of the Claretian Missionaries, and is founder and director of the Claretian Teaching Ministry. Listed in Who’s Who in Religion in America, he has served as parish priest, seminary professor and rector, college professor, lecturer, magazine writer, newspaper columnist, editor, retreat master, hospital chaplain, prison chaplain, campus chaplain, Cursillo director and director of suicide prevention programs in Texas and California.
He earned degrees in philosophy from Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles and from Notre Dame University, with postgraduate work at the University of Southern California and the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, in ascetical and mystical theology.
Find his many books and audio/visual recordings at www.Catholicbooks.net
