Learning to be Quick to Listen

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears has always struck me as a song about the human condition after the Fall. The lyrics capture humanity’s restless attempt to build a kingdom without God : “It’s my own design, it’s my own remorse.” Those words echo the struggle that St. Paul describes in Romans 7 — the painful realization that even when we know the good, we still find ourselves trapped by selfishness, pride, and disordered desire. We chase freedom “for pleasure,” believing autonomy will save us, yet “ nothing ever lasts forever. ” The song feels like a modern lament for a world that keeps trying to rule itself apart from the Creator. Even if the writers never intended a Christian meaning, truth has a way of surfacing through art because every human heart wrestles with the same hunger for redemption. Listening to the song through a Catholic lens also reminds me of the grace of Confession . So much of sin begins with the words “my own design” — my plans, my control, m...

Today's Gospel from Luke offers a powerful glimpse into the "day in the life" of Jesus, a day filled not just with words, but with dynamic action. We find Jesus, fresh from a dramatic expulsion of a demon in the Capernaum synagogue, moving swiftly to the house of Simon. There, he cures Simon’s mother-in-law , a private act of compassion that quickly becomes a public spectacle as the entire town gathers at his door. Jesus, far from being just a teacher of ethics, spends the entire evening healing the sick, a profound demonstration of his divine power breaking through into the human world. This is the Jesus that the evangelist Luke presents: a healer, a " soter " or "savior," whose actions are a foretaste of the full health and wholeness God intends for us in the Kingdom . This image of a dynamic, healing Savior is a crucial counterpoint to the more rationalized portrayals of Jesus that emerged in later centuries. As Saint Pope John Paul II often emph...