A Homily on Matthew 3:1 -12 : When Our Hearts Stop Hearing (7-12-25)

A unique Advent homily on Matthew 3:1- 12, inviting us to awaken our numb hearts and hear God’s gentle knock.(7-12-25)

Praise be to Jesus Christ 

A few years ago, a heart-breaking story appeared in many newspapers. A boy was missing for two whole days inside his own home. The police were searching the neighbourhood, the family was calling out his name, but no one thought of opening an old wooden cupboard in the house. When they finally did, they found the boy inside, frightened and weak. He had gone in there while playing, and the door got stuck from the outside. What shocked everyone was this. The family members had walked past that cupboard several times during those two days.  However, no one paid attention to the tiny sound form inside and they were busy searching the child outside. Though their ears heard the feeble sound from inside the cupboard their heart did not respond to that.

This silent tragedy shows a hidden danger that many people never talk about. It is the danger of emotional numbness. Not hearing the cry that is very near. Not seeing the person right in front of us. Not feeling the small call of God in the heart. Advent invites us to wake up from this numbness.

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist cries out in the desert. His voice is loud not because he wants to frighten people, but because the people had stopped hearing the gentle whisper of God. Their hearts had become like that cupboard. Something was crying inside but no one opened the door.

We often think repentance means feeling sorry. But there is a deeper part of repentance that is to allow our heart to become sensitive. Sensitive to God, sensitive to family, sensitive to the poor, sensitive even to our own inner wounds. Advent begins not with Christmas lights, but with awakening the heart that has become tired.

Isaiah in the first reading speaks about a world where the wolf lives with the lamb and the leopard with the goat. This peace begins when God softens the human heart. Saint Paul reminds us that scripture gives us hope. Hope awakens the heart. A numb heart cannot hope. It only survives from day to day. Hope gives strength to feel again.

In family life today, this numbness is more common than we admit. A husband sits beside his wife but does not notice her sadness. A mother is busy with work and does not hear the fear in her child’s voice. A young person sits with a phone but does not see the pain in their own soul. Advent invites us to pay attention to the small sounds around us: the small cry in our homes, the small discomfort in our conscience and the small pull of God who knocks quietly.

John the Baptist says that every tree must bear good fruit. A numb heart cannot bear fruit. Only a heart that is awake can love. Only a heart that listens can forgive and only a heart that feels can welcome Jesus.

Advent is a season where God stands at the door and waits. The question is simple. Are we calm enough to hear His knock in the middle of our noise and are we humble enough to open the door.

Let us pray that this Advent will not pass like every other year. Let this be the year when God touches the frozen places inside us and makes them warm again.

Lord Jesus , let me hear the voice of my conscience. Amen

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God Bless…