As we enter into Lent, the Father's voice from the cloud overshadowing the transfigured Christ commands us to listen to Jesus (see Lk 9:35). Although the purpose of life is rooted in listening to Jesus, our sins have made us so hard of hearing that we don't even hear the Lord saying that we are hard of hearing. Rather, we blame Him for not speaking up. However, even when the Father raised His voice dramatically from the cloud at Jesus' Transfiguration, we still had trouble hearing.

Daniel in today's first reading shows that he can hear better than most people. He at least heard he wasn't hearing well and what God wanted to do to rectify the problem. The Lord inspired Daniel to pray, fast, and repent in sackcloth and ashes (Dn 9:3-4). God can clean out our ears any way He wants and any way we let Him, but He has often chosen prayer, fasting, and repentance to do the job. When we pray in the Spirit, the Spirit cleans out our ears by proving us wrong about the harmlessness of our worldly ways (see Jn 16:8). We see how our provisions for the desires of the flesh (see Rm 13:14) are obstructing our spiritual hearing. When we fast during each of the forty days of Lent, we find our ears are more open when our mouths are closed. Finally, when we repent, we find sins "coming out of our ears." Then we can hear God and live.

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July27, 2010

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