Healing of the heart begins with listening

By Fr. Bernard Holzer, aa

 

Again, the confinement is extended until September 15! We will celebrate the longest lockdown in the world: 18 months! We are tired and isolated despite all our gadgets.

How do we find our inner peace? How do we still hope amid desperation?

 

Last Sunday, before the prayer of the Angelus, Pope Francis recalled the Gospel when Jesus restores the hearing and speech of a deaf man with a speech impediment.

He invites us to ask Jesus to touch and heal our own “interior deafness.”

 

For him, “the healing of the heart begins with listening”: “Starting a dialogue often happens not through words but silence”, he pointed out, and that requires patience to listen to others about their challenges and hopes. This confinement is a chance to listen!

 

During the days to come, let us take time to cherish silence, to listen to my husband or wife, to my children or parents, my neighbors and my friends… and to listen to the poor and to Jesus.

 

Let us read the news and the Bible to open our mind and our heart.

Let us reread some paragraphs of the encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” about communication and encounter (§ 47-50). This confinement is a chance to open ourselves!