{"id":6244,"date":"2020-02-22T07:44:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-22T12:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=6244"},"modified":"2020-02-22T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T14:27:13","slug":"faith-comes-from-hearing-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/faith-comes-from-hearing-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith comes from hearing."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re going duck hunting and you want to get the\nflock to come your way, you\u2019ll have to use a \u201cduck call\u201d.\nIf you want to call a buck in the forest, you rattle some\nantlers. If you want to get a baby\u2019s attention, you\u2019ll use\nsoft round tones and say their name.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These different attempts at communication are shaped by\nthe recipient\u2019s ability to receive the message. St. Thomas\nAquinas captured this nugget of human truth six hundred\nyears ago when he said, \u201cNothing occurs in the intellect\n(you can\u2019t know anything) if it doesn\u2019t come first\nthrough the senses.\u201d Animals respond to biofeedback\n(heat, cold, hunger, sound). Humans respond to these\nsame things, but having intellect they come to know\nthings through sound—-think words.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pre-condition for knowing has profound effects on our relationship with God. How can we hear the \u201cVoice of God\u201d who is pure infinite spirit? If you are an angel (pure \u201cspirit person\u201d) you have no body, no ears. There is no need to hear. Angels know things by \u201cseeing\u201d with their mind. In that sense they don\u2019t have to learn; they get things immediately when their spirit \u201cbeholds\u201d something. They know God immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for humans, God has made us in such a way that what\nwe can know must first come to us through our 5 senses.\nUnless we see, hear, touch, taste or smell something, we\ncan\u2019t know anything about it.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how then does God communicate to us? He does so\nby obeying the laws of learning we humans were given\nto know things. He comes to us through our human sens-\nes, primarily through seeing and hearing.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham experienced a \u201cvision\u201d of God in which he and\nhis wife Sarah \u201cheard\u201d of a promised child in their old\nage. What did he do? He believed.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moses had a \u201cvision\u201d of God at the Burning Bush. He \u201cheard\u201d God say his name \u2013 \u201cI Am\u201d. And what did Moses do? He believed. (How you describe their seeing and hearing is a mystery – – no burning bush has ever spoken to me!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each case there was given this strange ability to \u201cbelieve\u201d that God was addressing them. And from that point on, whatever happened became \u201cGod\u2019s plan\u201d. Theologians call it \u201cSalvation History\u201d and it includes the events of human history interpreted with eyes and ears now open to what was heard through Faith . . . the bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

St. Paul makes this literal connection between hearing and faith in the Letter to the Romans (10:14ff<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut how can they call on him (God) in whom they have\nnot believed? And how can they believe in him if they\nhave not heard? And how will they hear without someone\nto preach? . . . Thus faith comes from what is heard, and\nwhat is heard comes from the word of Christ.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in Hebrews 1:1, 2<\/a>: \u201cIn times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets (Abraham, Moses and Isaiah, etc.). In these last days, he spoke to us through a son, through whom he created all things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of this Son, John the Apostle writes:, \u201cWhat was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes . . . and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life made visible to us . . . What we have seen and heard we now proclaim to you.\u201d 1Jn. 1:1 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what is this word that God speaks? It is the \u201cWord\nmade flesh\u201d, Jesus of Nazareth.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

God continues to speak the word of Jesus in the scriptures, the teaching of the church, and the voice of God that is our conscience urging us to \u201cdo good and avoid evil\u201d, and lastly God\u2019s word comes at times from the people around us. This is God calling out to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord give us the ears to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re going duck hunting and you want to get the flock to come your way, you\u2019ll have to use a \u201cduck call\u201d. If you want to call a buck in the forest, you rattle some antlers. If you want to get a baby\u2019s attention, you\u2019ll use soft round tones and say their name. These […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6244"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6249,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6244\/revisions\/6249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}