HEARING THE WORD OF GOD
By: St. Francis De Sales
He who is of God hears the words of God.
Therefore you hear them not,
because you are not of God. – John 8:47
A
word is accepted or rejected for three reasons: because of the person
who speaks it, because of the word that is spoken, because of those who
hear it. For this word to be honored and accepted, the one who is
speaking it must be a good man, a virtuous man, one worthy of being
believed. Otherwise, rather than being accepted, it will be rejected,
despised. Further, what is said must be good and true. Finally, those
who hear it must be good, prepared to receive it; if not, it will be
neither accepted, honored, nor kept.
This
is what Our Lord teaches us in the Gospel Holy Church offers us today,
in which He reproaches the scribes and Pharisees for not receiving His
words—for which they are to blame. [Jn. 8:46-59]. He says: Why do you not believe the truth I teach?
Their nonbelief thoroughly astonished Him. It is as though He meant to
say: “You really have no excuse, for which one of you can convict Me of
sin? Why then do you not believe Me, since what I am telling you is
truth itself? I cannot err. Therefore your disbelief must stem from your
own wickedness and sinfulness. Certainly neither I nor the word I teach
is to blame.”
Thus,
it is necessary that the one proclaiming God’s word be irreproachable,
and his life congruent with his teaching. If this is not the case, the
word will be neither honored nor accepted. For this reason God forbids
sinners to announce His word [Ps. 49 (50):16-17]. He seems to say:
“Miserable one, how dare you teach My doctrine with your lips and
dishonor it with your life? How can you possibly expect it to be
accepted from a mouth so full of infectious sin? I will not permit such a
one to proclaim My will.” Thus He has forbidden sinners to announce His
sacred word, fearing it will be rejected by those who hear it.
Be
careful here. It is not all sinners who are forbidden to preach, but
only notorious ones. Otherwise, who could announce God’s word, since we
are all sinners? Whoever says the contrary is guilty of grievous
untruth. [1 Jn. 1:8]. Even the Apostles were sinners. Those who allege
never to have sinned are guilty of a very great delusion indeed. The
contrary is actually clear at the very moment they allege it. St.
Augustine teaches this explicitly when he writes that the daily petition
in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses” [Matt. 6:12], is not
only a word of humility but also one of truth because, due to our frail
humanity, we commit offences at every turn.
All
are sinners, but not all are to be silent and refrain from teaching
God’s word, but only those who live a life wholly contrary to this
divine word. Yet even if this word is preached to us by evildoers, we
ought not reject it, but accept it, doing as the bees do who gather
honey from almost all the flowers of the fields. Even though some of
these flowers are harmful and poisonous, they skillfully draw out honey,
a celestial dew untainted by poison.
As
confirmation of what I say, I will gladly relate a beautiful example
found in the life of the great St. Ephrem. He was indeed a great man,
not only because he was a deacon to two illustrious Doctors of the
Church, but because he too was a great Doctor, having written very
beautiful teachings which truly delight those who read them. This great
saint was reared very carefully and nourished from his earliest years on
the eremitical life. After many years in the desert, he was inspired by
God one day to go to Edessa, his native city. He had always left his
heart open and receptive to the Divine Majesty, eager to receive the
precious dew of heavenly inspiration, and he had always faithfully
accepted them in obedience. Thus he readily embraced this one too.
He
went promptly to the city. As he drew near, he was convinced that God
must have something important to teach him in calling him from his
hermitage. Falling on his knees, he prayed most fervently for the grace
to meet someone in the city who would serve as his director and lead him
to God’s will. Full of confidence that the Lord would hear him, he got
up. When he reached Edessa he came upon a prostitute. Disturbed, he said
to himself: “My God, I asked You to let me meet someone who would teach
me what Your good pleasure wants of me. Instead, I meet this
unfortunate woman.” Eyeing her disdainfully, he noticed that she too was
looking at him attentively. Enraged at her boldness, he demanded: “Why,
miserable woman, do you look at me so?” She responded very cleverly and
learnedly: “I have the right to look at you, but you have no right to
look at me. You know that woman was drawn from the side of man. [Gen.
2:21-23]. Therefore, I am only looking at the place of my origin. But
man was created from the earth [Gen. 2:7], so why are you not
continually looking down at the earth, since that is the place from
which you were drawn?”
This
great saint truly valued the teaching of the wretched woman, received
it humbly, and even warmly acknowledged his gratitude to her. From that
moment on, he so valued that lesson that not only did he always keep his
bodily eyes lowered to the ground, but even more so his interior and
spiritual eyes, which he kept riveted on his nothingness, his vileness
and his abjection. In this way he made continual progress in the virtue
of most holy humility all the rest of his life.
This story teaches us how we should honor and esteem God’s word and good teachings even if
they are presented by persons of ill repute. After all, the Lord
desired that a prophet should be instructed by an ass [Num. 22:28-30],
and that wicked Pilate should announce the great truth that our divine
Master is Jesus [Matt. 1:21]—that is, Savior—a title which he even
placed above the Cross, insisting: Such is the case, it is I who have said so.
[Jn. 19:22]. Caiphas, the most miserable among men, pronounced this
word of truth: It is expedient to have one man die for the salvation of
the people. [Jn. 11:49-50; 18:14].