Listening

Do we know when our children are listening to us?

Sometimes I wish I had different words for my daughter to hear and other times I wish she'd listen to the ones I've spoken. But only the one with the ears in question knows what she's heard unless she gives an outward sign of hearing.

Last Sunday our little church ordained (or celebrated the ordination of) its first deacon in, maybe, forever. I don't know him personally. But he shared a nice homily. Being "Christ the King" Sunday, the gospel reading retold the story of Christ addressing the 2 criminals on the crosses beside his. My daughter drew pictures on a piece of paper during most of the homily, other than the moment when she pulled all the coats on top of her, or asked me what a word was on the envelope. She was interested momentarily in who the new guy was and in why the priest wasn't wearing green during Ordinary Time. (I'd say she's a precocious 5 year old, but our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program teaches the children so much.) I assumed, as others probably did of their children, that she had not heard a word of the homily ("sermon" for my more Protestant family members). Then, at the end of mass, she showed me the picture she'd been working on so diligently and explained it to me. It showed a cross with one man standing on either side and a smiling spirit-man leaving the cross and going up into the sky. She told me it was Jesus rising from the dead and the men beside the cross were the ones he'd been speaking to.


They do listen.