The Noise Preventing the First Steps – Remember the Song by Grant Humerickhouse

O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day (Psalm 96:1-2 NRSVCE). Hear our prayer Holy Father — Thank you; Lord Jesus Christ — Thank you for mercy; Spirit of the Living God — Thank you for life.
Life is a gift.

And for many of us, the gift is either taken for granted, squandered, or lost
along the way. I can relate. For others, life is a never-ending series of hardships, pain, and suffering. I can relate too. For very few, so it seems in my estimation, life is a walk of bliss and happiness. I can relate to all three.

I dare say that life for everyone is a series of struggles with setbacks, islands of happiness with bridges of love, and a war between good and evil.

I remember a call from my early days in law enforcement. There was a toddler who was no more than three and who was severely injured. I can remember his screams. I can remember his injuries. I can remember the Sargent telling me not to leave his mother alone with him. We had no idea what had happened to him. We just knew that the injuries to his feet would haunt our memories. And everyone was a suspect.

His mother was as close to being nuclear as a body could get. She was distraught, at times inconsolable. She was eerily calm; yet devastatingly worried. At that time, I was a worldly man. I was a man living for money, success, a dream. I was a fake Catholic, a terrible Christian, a man who thought I knew better than any person let alone my God.

I grew up with God. I knew the Good News. I walked with God. There in my early twenties I was a long way from my Lutheran roots. I wanted a career. I wanted to make something of my life. I had forgotten God’s song.

I lived thinking that I could be some kind of good that would vanquish evil. I lived the lie of performing for likes. I filled my head and my life with the noise of this world. Power, pleasure, plunder, and prestige became my God.

Yet, remembering that young mother and her injured son, I now know that the Song of the Lord was right there with me. Playing in the background through the noise, my soul heard even when the noise filled my ears.

-The mother was completely innocent. She went to get her hair done and left the toddler with a family member. That family member ran a bath and left the toddler to stand unaccompanied in the scalding hot water. I did my best. I was not married then, I did not have children, I related to her very little. But, the living Spirit, the bond of love between the true God, and his only begotten Son, still abided in me. I tried to show that woman love. Many years later, when I became a detective, I was standing in an elevator at the courthouse. A random woman gave me a hug. She said, “You don’t remember me, but I will never forget you. He’s walking now and playing basketball.” To this day, those thoughts bring tears to my eyes.

Through the journey of taking life for granted, and thinking I know the better way, to trying to be the best Catholic I can be today — the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the God who sacrificed his Only Begotten Son, the living Spirit, They the Three in One — God has never forsaken me even when I forgot who He was. He is love. Pure unending love for all his creation. Through the noise of addictions, relationships, hardships, through the noise of this world in being whatever you want to be, through loss of careers, divorce and even abortion, He still remembers you.

The first step in forging a better relationship with him may not be the pilgrimage of far. It may not be reading endless books. It may not be the saintly life yet. It may not be anything more than just being right where he has put you today. In the moment that you are in, finding the noise that is too loud in your life. Quieting that noise and learning to listen for Him. As a great friend in my life quoted to me when I was learning to silence
the noise, “More walk less talk.”

Father most holy, in unity with your Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray all that are struggling to learn to listen and silence the noise. Let us be like the Blessed Mother of the Son of Man. Let us mirror her listening, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 NRSVCE).