Mark 1:3: The Voice
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
The voice of one crying out in the wilderness is often drowned out by the din of the world that clamors for its own comfort and pleasure. Prophets and martyrs are derided and put aside, punished and even murdered because of their fidelity to the voice that speaks to them in the inmost heart. Those who hear and respond to that voice in the wilderness are more often ridiculed than praised and more often silenced than thanked. This is the struggle we experience daily. How do we sort out the inner messages that tug at us?
Those who refuse to kowtow, who insist on speaking truth, and who ask tough questions also expect justice and mercy to overcome deception and evil. John the Baptist was one of these clear-throated voices that pierced through the cacophony of the moment to burn so brightly that we remember him still today. Most of us do not expect to live in such a momentous way, but our more quiet lives are no less important.
Matthew 4:8-10 is part of the Morning Prayer in MAGNIFICAT today and it tells the story of the conversation between Satan and Jesus at the moment when Christ begins his ministry. In the meditation today entitled The Heart of True Wisdom, Dom Augustin Guillerand, O. Cart. (a spiritual writer of the last century) tells us that when we hear the voice of darkness whispering in our ear, we will know how to react according to the measure of our love for God. What is difficult here is to know whether the voice we hear speaks from good or from evil. This is our constant struggle; yet we will know that the source is goodness when we hear it calling us to right wrongs against those among us who are the weakest. We will know that the source is darkness when it encourages us to seek self-pleasure and comfort at the expense of the marginalized and forgotten.
In the end, we act according to our understanding of the voice we hear and tend to best; even our most quiet activities are a demonstration of what we believe and what god or gods we worship. So this is perhaps what we must say to ourselves – just as Jesus does: The Lord my God I shall worship. Him alone will I serve.
Tomorrow, Jesus and his family.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 16.9 (2009). Print.
A Favorite from September 16, 2009.
Images from: http://sarahellenbrown.com/tag/john-the-baptist/ and http://www.catholicmannight.com/learn-about-jesus/blog/page/13/ and https://renewingthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/on-hearing-the-voice-of-god/
The Noontimes 