If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts
A Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, OFS
The title of this talk, "If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts," is the main antiphon during Lent which alternates with each verse of Psalm 95 or others Invitatory psalms, said before the first hour of the Liturgy of the Hours that one begins the day with. For some, this is usually Morning Prayer, and for those who are obligated to pray the whole daily office, it would be the Office of Readings or "Vigils." An antiphon is simply, a short liturgical text spoken or sung before and after a psalm or canticle.
The Antiphon implies that during the Season of Lent, we should really be attuned to His presence in our lives. He reaches out to us constantly, desires us to love Him as He loves us, and so often we do not give Him a second thought. For example, someone I knew called me one day and complained that Jesus did not answer his prayers. I asked a few questions to find out what had been happening in his life, and so he told me that he had both knees replaced. So I asked him if he thought Jesus answered his prayer to lessen the pains that made the replacements necessary. Mmmm. He had not thought of that, but still was too hard-necked to admit this to me. Doesn't matter. I try to lay seeds, so that later, when he or the receiver of some of my comments, is by him or herself - that somehow the truth will be accepted. Maybe a dozen years ago, I gave a talk at a parish. That was before I went into religious life from 1996 to 2002. The talk was on the Presence of the Lord in our lives. I had talked about forms of prayer, formal prayer, conversational prayer and contemplative prayer. At the time, I probably had no right to talk about contemplative prayer, since the only similar prayer I had experience with was Father Keating’s centering prayer, which is something altogether different. In any case, I had mentioned that if one prays deeply and intensively, Jesus would be there. And certainly, He told us that where two or more are gathered in His name, He is there amongst us. (Mt. 18:20)
We are never quite alone when we pray, are we? Jesus is always there, to those who constantly are with Him, not so much in actual thought as in doing everything we do in His name. So He becomes a part of our life, because our life is dedicated to Him and to our brothers and sisters, friends and neighbor, and also to the strangers who cross our paths. All of us, myself included, experience dry spells in prayer. Days where we just cannot find the right stimulus to pray. Happens to everyone. Of course that is when we are weak, and when we are that is when Satan tries to take advantage. We get these little and sometimes not so little temptations, and you hear this little sharp voice that says "taking a cookie out of the jar is not a sin." - I use this example because in Nijmegen, the Dutch town I was born in, there was a parish priest by the name of Fr. J. Rubbens, SJ. He was a character, and his sermons could be fire and brimstone, but more often than not, he acted out scenes to make his point. He was so famous, that there is a book about him: "Het ' jungske ' uit de Molenstraatskerk." (Daniels. Archivaris - Archeoloog - Nijmegenaar)
You see, there was "Jantje" (little Johnny) who had been told by his mother that the cookie jar during Lent was not to be touched or even looked at. Of course you and I know when we tell a child that, that is like issuing a dare which invites mischief right away. Anyway, up he went, when his mother was not looking - from a chair he climbed onto the kitchen counter, and from there he could touch the cookie jar, even open it a little. In the meantime, Fr. Rubbens crouched in the pulpit, and when Johnny’s hand reached out for the jar, Fr. Rubbins trying to imitate the devil, with his nose just above the edge of the pulpit rim, said in a high child-like voice, "That's alright Johnny, taking one cookie is not a sin." Of course, at that point, the parishioners exploded with laughter. But the homily met it’s mark. I have never forgotten that the devil is always lurking about waiting for us to fall into his evil trap. That was in 1948, when I was 8 years old when I sat with Mom and Dad in the Molenstraat Kerk in Nijmegen. Jesus must have rocked with laughter, too! Jesus is like us in every way except sin - so I think we can dare to assume that he loves a good story once in a while, don’t you think so?
Praying the prayers of the Church, the Liturgy of the Hours, for example is a very noble habit, because we know that we are praying the same prayers that are said all over the world by every priest, deacon and religious brother and sister, even by the Holy Father. All text in the vernacular are translations from the original Latin texts. So one can see there is a lot of solidarity in these type of prayers. But also, inherent in these beautiful prayers is the depth and the beauty of the prayer life of the Church, and some of these prayers, as for instance the Psalms in the Old Testament (sometimes referred to as the Gospel of the Old Testament) date back even before Christ. King David ruled from about 1005 to 965 before Christ. So these psalms as prayers are almost 3000 years old.
A monk once told me that uttering a prayer is not as important as your willingness to pray, but when people race through the prayers without giving the words any thought, that just doesn’t wash with me either. Why? Because if you want to make prayer, which is a conversation with God, a true conversation, we have to pause after sentences, right? Say a Psalm even a verse, and pause. Likewise, after a Hail Mary, pause and rest. In your mind’s eye, place yourself in the room with Our Lady when the Angel Gabriel gave her the message of joy of the Annunciation. Or when reading a psalm, imagine yourself walking through the Red Sea when Moses parted it in the name of Yahweh (the Lord). What an awesome feeling that must have been. I wouldn't be surprised that the Israelites must have been very anxiously wondering if those walls of water would close in on them, and happily relieved, when they didn't. Such a miracle!
When you're done thinking or meditating about this, just relax and tell Jesus that you, his servant, is waiting, and just listening. Be silent and give Him the opportunity to reach your heart. To open the door of your Soul. And when He does open that door, you will find you are resting interiorly, for what seems a blessed moment or two, in the palm of His hands. But if you have no recollection afterward whether He visited with you or not, don't worry about it... the nature of contemplation is such that what goes on in the depth of your Soul you will not feel with your senses. If you do, it most likely wasn't contemplation.
Prayer is a gift from God. I encourage you to pray every day, as most of you are doing already. Pray to curtail sin in your lives and in the lives of others. Pray for peace on earth, and forgive those, who consciously disturb the peace of God, be it on the battle field or in more sinister places. Frequent prayer keeps Satan away from us. There will come that time that we will all hear His voice. And when you do, harden not your hearts but embrace our Lord, in the name of His Son, as Father and Son embraces us through the Holy Spirit, the love between them and us. What an awesome thought, isn’t it?
Fred Schaeffer, OFS
2013 Revised 2/25/2024