When parents talk to their children, they sometimes feel they are talking to a wall. Imagine how the Lord feels! God laments: "If only My people would hear Me..." (Ps 81:14). Let us listen to the Lord speak:

• "If My people, upon whom My name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek My presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land" (2 Chr 7:14).
• "If only My people would hear Me, and...walk in My ways...I would feed [them] with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them" (Ps 81:14, 17).
• "If, then, you truly heed My commandments which I enjoin on you today, loving and serving the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, I will give the seasonal rain to your land...Thus you may eat your fill" (Dt 11:13-15).
• "Act on this word. If all you do is listen to it, you are deceiving yourselves" (Jas 1:22).

The Lord tells us: "My sheep hear My voice...They follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish" (Jn 10:27-28). "Once you know all these things, blest will you be if you put them into practice" (Jn 13:17). "Let him who has ears to hear Me, hear!" (Mk 4:23)

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Giles H. Pater, August 18 8, 2004

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, August 23, 2004