Snowday Sunday

 All the rumors are true. Long form writing is back. The world of 160 characters just isn't enough for me. 

My goal is to write something every Sunday. Maybe it's cathartic. Maybe it's just because I tend to be an external processor. Maybe it's because I'm super nostalgic and want to be able to read my thoughts in a few years.

If this blog were an old friend I had neglected for a few years, I'd have a lot to update it on, but I think instead of walking down memory lane I'll just pick up at the present day and see how it goes. 

My parish recently opened a new Adoration Chapel and my prayer life has benefited tremendously. Today's second reading from 1 Cor 6:13-20 reminded me why that's the case. We're body AND soul, and physically getting my body in the same space as Jesus's is for my good, whether or not my soul recognizes a difference in the moment. 

Today's first reading from 1 Sam 3:3-10 reminded me of a few conversations I've had lately about the voice of the Father. Samuel hears the Lord calling, but he thinks it is Eli who is calling him. But if God's voice sounded completely different from Eli's voice, Samuel wouldn't have gone to Eli. Eli's voice sounds like the voice of the Father to Samuel. It is so important that fathers' voices sound to their children's ears and mind like the voice of God the Father because they are the image of the Father to their children. 

A few months ago I was presenting the Good Shepherd to a six year old in my atrium. When we finished the story I said, "I wonder what the voice of the Shepherd sounds like." He looked up at me, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "welp, we can't know!" It was a very funny interaction, but I was thinking about it for a long time afterwards. How many adults really believe it's true that we can't know what the Shepherd's voice sounds like? And if they don't believe it's possible to know what His voice sounds like, surely they're not listening to it and practicing hearing it. And if we haven't listened for it and practiced hearing it, how can we speak with it when it's time to pass it on to our children? 

I hope all of us learn to hear clearly the voice of the Father, to love it, to cherish it, and to act on it.