5th Sunday Easter C- Love one another: See the invisible to do the impossible

If you cannot see the invisible, you cannot do the impossible.

We always choose to see just the visible, so we tend to do what is only possible.That’s why we get stuck with the old ways of doing things because those are the only things we see which brings us the same result over and over again.

In the first reading John says: I see a new heaven and a new earth. And I see one seated on the throne, he said: “See I am making all things new.”  Newness implies seeing that which is invisible, so that we can do the impossible.  If we only keep on looking for what is visible to do what’s possible then we end up doing the same old, same old. We need a new 
way of thinking. To do that, we need a new way of seeing.

Teacher: "Four crows are on the fence. The farmer shoots one. How many are left?”  Little Johnny: "None."

Teacher: "Listen carefully: Four crows are on the fence. The farmer shoots one. How many are left?”  Johnny: "None."

Teacher: "Can you explain that answer?"

Johnny: "One is shot, the others fly away. There are none left."

Teacher: "Well, that isn't the correct answer, but I like the way you think."

Johnny: "Teacher, can I ask a question?”  Teacher: "Sure."

Little Johnny: “Three women walk into the ice cream parlor and sees Little Johnny. One buys ice cream and smiles and waves at little Johnny.  The other buys ice cream and greets Little Johnny: “Hello young lad, you look swell today.”  The third buys two ice cream cones and offers one to Little Johnny. Which one is married?"

Teacher: "The one  who gives little Johnny ice cream."

Little Johnny: "No. The one with the wedding ring on, but I like the way you think."

We must have a vision into things we cannot yet see. We need a vision to see things in a new perspective. Prov. 28:18 says: “Where there is no vision, people perish.”

In the gospel Jesus leaves his disciples a legacy, he gives them a new vision: “Litttle children, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13)

But Lord, I can love those who love me. I can be kind to those who are kind to me. I see what is visible so I can do what is possible…. But what you ask is to love the other who might not love me, to give myself to those who cannot give back of themselves. That is hard. That seems to be impossible…. and yet the Lord tells us: If you cannot see the invisible, you cannot do the impossible. You have to love one another not because you get something back or you get a happy feeling,  but because of faith - something you cannot see nor feel. If you do that then you do the impossible. You have to see what is invisible to do the impossible. And that which is invisible is called love.

Cause when you see love in everything you do for another, then all things are possible.  Seeing events in your life, seeing persons in your life with the eyes of love make you see them in a new way. You will see God.  John today says: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See the home of God is among humans. He will dwell with them.” When we love one another, we see the God we love in each other.

There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The highlnders/ mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, kidnapped a baby of one of the their mothers, and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.

The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountain. They didn’t know any of the trails that the highlanders used, and they didn’t know where to find the highlanders or how to track them in the steep terrain. Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby back home.

The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet. Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlanders decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below. But why do you think they failed in trying to do what was seemingly impossible? If you cannot see the invisible you cannot do what is impossible. 

As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them, coming down the mountain that they hadn’t figured out how to climb. And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be? Impossible!  One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?”

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well, It wasn’t your baby. And you do not love him as much I do.”  The mother’s love for her baby they did not see, that invisible thing made her do the impossible.So if you cannot see the invisible, you cannot do what is impossible. That is what loving one another means.

References:

Vayalicmf. (2014). Stories for homilies. “Love finds a means.”

https://stories4homilies.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/loves-finds-a-means/

Dimaranan, F. (2014). Pan de la Semana. “5th Sunday of Easter year C.”

http://pandelasemana.blogspot.ca/2016/04/5th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-24th-april.html

4th Sunday Easter C- The Cocktail Party Effect: tuning in to God's voice

What is the cocktail party effect?  This effect is what allows most people to "tune into" a single voice and "tune out" all others, much the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room. Or notice even when the conversation gets dull, you can even eavesdrop on the conversation of the table next to you without moving your place. And in a party even how interesting is the conversation is with your friend, your attention will immediately shift when you hear your own name being called or spoken about somewhere in the room.

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn 10.27) The CPE ability is what enables the sheep to hear the voice of their shepherd amidst all that noise of the other shephers and sheep.

The cocktail party effect is our impressive and under-appreciated ability to tune our attention to just one voice from a multitude. Sadly we use it for choosing to hear the more unimportant things in life making us lousy listeners and unable to hear God’s voice.  Here are four types of lousy listeners:

A son brought home his fiancee to meet his father:
Son: Dad I’m introducing to you the most beautiful girl in the world. She is the one I love and I’m going to marry her.
Father: Son, are you sure? Look at her. Her teeth are crooked and you could see what she ate for breakfast.
S: I know, Dad, but I love her.
F: And look at her eyebrows, they are uneven and her eyes, her eyes, one eye is squinted.
S: I know, Dad, but I love her.
F: And oh my! she has so many pimples and blackheads.
S: I know, Dad, but I love her.
F: And her ears are too big like a bunny. And her nose is so flat.
S: Uh Dad, by the way, why are you whispering these to me?
F: Oh, she might hear us and she might get embarrassed.
S: It’s alright Dad, she is also deaf, but I love her and will marry her.

Who do you think is deaf, the girl or the father? The father is what you may call the Insensitive listener.  He is not able to listen beyond the face value of the other's words. And he could rarely pick-up on hidden meanings of what the other tries to say.

Pseudo-Listener. A person who gives the appearance of being attentive, with smiles, head-nods, minimal responses, but behind this polite face, he is ignoring or not attending to the other person.

Selective listener. When you choose what you want to hear.
A medical doctor who was invited as a guest speaker to address a group of alcoholics. He wanted to make a demonstration that would be powerful enough to make people realize that alcohol was injurious to their health. He had two containers, one with pure distilled water and one with pure alcohol. He put an earthworm into the distilled water and it swam beautifully and came up to the top. He put another earthworm into the alcohol and it disintegrated in front of everyone's eyes. He wanted to prove that this was what alcohol did to the insides of our body. He asked what the moral of the story was and one person from behind said, "If you drink alcohol you won't have worms in your stomach." 

Insulated Listener.  The opposite of selective listeners, insulated listeners are people who actively avoid or ignore certain topics. When that topic arises in the conversation, they turn off.

We have become lousy listeners because our world has gotten louder. We hear thousand of voices – all the time. Our ears get assaulted so much, that it’s a wonder we can hear the quiet, intimate, gentle voices at all. We hear so much that’s just noise. But Jesus’  voice is so gentle and sweet. So the quieter we become, the more we can hear.  To hear the voice of God, we must turn down the volume of the world around us. And then in the silence of our heart and mind, we may be able to hear the whisper of God.

During the depression in the 1930’s, a room was filled with applicants for a job opening as telegraph operator all waiting to be called and interviewed outside the secretary’s office since only one will be accepted.  The drone of conversation competed with the steady flow of dots and dashes. Just then one of them boldly stood up, bypassed the secretary’s office, instead knocked in the room with a sign: “Do not enter- authorized persons only” and didn’t come out. So they all wondered what happened, then the secretary announced: You all may go now, that man got the job.  They asked: How? The secretary said: While you were all talking, that man listened to the dots and dashes repeated time and again. It said: “If you can hear this, then enter the other room now and the job is yours.”

God is constantly speaking to us. As Psalm 50 attests: “The LORD speaks… from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.”  Should we not stop to listen for a while, use our cocktail party effect ability to focus on what is essential, and really try to hear what God wants to tell us? “My sheep listen to my voice. I call each one by name. I lead them out and they follow me because they know my voice… I give them safe pasture and they go out with me in the path of righteousness.” (Jn.10:3,9-10)


References:

The Executive Advisory. The Toolkit: Poor Listening Habits
http://www.theexecutiveadvisory.com/toolkit/poor_listenting_habits.html

Dean, J. (2009). Psyblog. The Cocktail Party Effect.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/03/the-cocktail-party-effect.php