(St. Francis of Assisi)
(This reflection by Fr. Kenneth Grabner, CSC, appears in LIVING FAITH as the meditation for August 1, 2014; the scripture text (Mt: 13: 54-55,57) was the story of Jesus returning home to Nazareth and his towns people not accepting him; Fr. Kenneth talks about how hard it is to let people be different than what we think they are; it takes "prayerful silence" he says, plus more.)
SEEKING THE DEEPER MEANING - PRAYERFUL SILENCE!
Just when we think we know people, they say and do things that surprise us. Then we realize we didn't know them as well as we imagined. That seems to be what happened when Jesus returned home. His hearers thought they knew him, and they weren't ready for anything new.
Maybe something similar happens to us. We've heard Jesus' words so often that we don't expect to find anything new. This has happened to me occasionally when preparing a homily. I'd seen the Scripture text dozens of times. What new insights would I be able to share? All I could do was to sit quietly and ask God for his inspiration. And in the silence, God gave me a new understanding I had never seen before. God's Word can touch us in many different ways. Prayerful silence can reveal deeper meanings in Scripture that we would otherwise miss.
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