Annunciation Catholic Church issued the following announcement on Sept. 20

“Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.” We still have several months to go before entering into the joyous Christmas Season and already stores have begun to transform their shelves into a winter wonderland with trees, toys and decorations. It truly is a special time of the year. We come together as family and spend time with our friends.  We reconnect and catch up with those who live far away and we are ever so mindful of those less fortunate than ourselves.  We are filled with the hope and peace the season brings and welcome it into our hearts and into our homes. 

We gather to share a meal, to celebrate traditions, to sing the many songs that have captured the Christmas spirit. One of those being, “Do you hear what I hear?” I think about what the artist is hearing. I think about what you might be hearing. I ask myself, do you hear what I hear? Do I hear what you hear? Are we both hearing what Moses and the prophets heard? Are we hearing what the Disciples heard? Are we hearing what all the Angels and Saints heard? Are we hearing the sweet voice of God gently calling each one of us by name? Calling each one of us to conversion.  Inviting each one of us to change our minds and open our hearts. Hearing is such an automatic thing.  A sound is made; a sound is heard. We hear so many sounds. Some are beautiful and pleasing to the ears like the sound of nature, the sound of silence, the sound of children playing. At times, sounds become noise and noise distracts us. It drowns out God’s voice. 

God desires to speak to us, to encourage us, to share with us.  That is music to our ears. Noise, however, fills our ears with unpleasant sounds and occupies our capacity to listen.  Listening requires a little bit of work and a lot more skill on our part. Listening requires us to be attentive to the sound that is being made; to be open to the word that is being spoken, available to the message that is being shared, respectful to the person who is speaking. Listening requires us to give of ourselves and to give our undivided attention to the moment, to the person, to the situation before us. O Lord, open the ears of our hearts, so that we can be attentive and present to your Son Jesus as he tells us just how much you love us.

Original source can be found here.