Practical Devotion of the Day: How to Use Our Hearing Well

We keep our ears closed to evil. We abuse all of God's gifts. We complain about him if he denies us health, and if he gives it to us, we use it to offend him. We cry against Providence if it denies us the fruits of the earth, and if it grants them to us, we abuse them for intemperance. The old man complains of deafness, and we use our hearing in listening to murmurs, impure speeches, urges to evil. Do not open your ear to every speech, a single word heard is enough to make you lose your innocence.

Let's open them up to good. The Magdalene opened them to the sermons of Jesus and returned converted. By hearing, faith enters the heart, says St. Paul. And how do you listen to him preach? Saverio opened them to the wise advice of an enùco, St. Ignatius, and became a saint. And you from friends, do you learn good or bad? An Andrea Corsini opened them, an Agostino to the wise reproaches of a mother, and they repented. And how do you listen to relatives, superiors, the confessor?

The inspirations of the heart. The heart also has its own way of understanding and opens and closes. Inspiration is a secret language with which God speaks to the soul, reproaches it, invites it, urges it. A holy inspiration supported changed the heart of Ignatius; it was the principle of sublime holiness in Saint Catherine of Genoa. Judas despising them became a reprobate. And how do you support them? If you tire of God's patience, you will become an ember of Hell.

PRACTICE. - Protect your hearing from any unrighteous speech. Follow the good inspirations today.