Haven’t most of us experienced a similar frustration —with our friends, children or parents —or our students or co-workers? We think that “You are not listening to anything I say! You are dismissing my thoughts and words.” In reading this Gospel, I was both struck by the universality of Jesus’ lament (people were complaining about the shortcomings of other generations 2,000 years before we were —nothing has changed) and reminded that Jesus is both fully God and fully human —with normal human emotions, including being completely exasperated. He was preaching the Gospel —the Good News —and the people were not listening!
Am I approaching the Gospel with the immediacy that it requires? Am I listening with the intensity it deserves? And, am I listening to others as I should?
—Anne Williams is Executive Director of Charis, a Jesuit ministry for young adults of the Chicago-Detroit Province. She and her husband Jim are graduates of Georgetown University and the parents of three children who have been educated at Loyola Academy, Wilmette, Il.