Do we really listen or do we merely hear? Listening means letting another's words to penetrate into our heart not only into our ears. Let's look at a few times that people did not listen but merely heard:
1) When President was preparing to go to Dallas, his secretery, Mrs. Lincoln begged him not to go. Politically, Dallas was hostile to the President; and she had a bad intuition. The President had many professional advisors, but this one, Mrs. Lincoln, was closest to him and knew that Dallas was a place he should avoid at all costs. He heard her but did not LISTEN to her. If he had not gone, his presidency would have survived just fine. But by going, he did not survive. Sometimes, God sends us prophets to protect us; but we do not realize it because we do not listen. When someone tells us something with all their heart, we should listen with our heart and not our ears. Presidenct Kennedy would be alive today and just a little older that Senator Ed Kennedy was whom we saw on the political stage for 40 years. We needed President Kennedy on that stage much more: his wisdom would have helped the US for 50 years.
2) In the Bay of Pigs affair, President Kennedy, received many voices to land on Cuba with special forces and take out Fidel Castro. The President was once Captain of a PT boat in the WWII. He, as a military man, had a sense about war and about fighting men that his political advisors did not have. His heart told him not to let this landing take place at this time. He felt that Castro could easily with intelligence get wind of it. Castro did. He was waiting for the US expedition to arrive on his shores. All @150 American Marine's special forces were killed. President Kennedy made a remark that I remember well. He said, "I knew it was wrong; I shoud have listened to myself [my haert]." His political advisors said: "Don't say that to the press." President Kennedy uttered a profound truth in response: "Power is in substance; not in shadow." Listening to one's own heart is just as important as listening to the heart of others. But JFK's advisors were not God's prophets; they were political tacticians. That fact was that JFK had more experience in war and men than his advisors did. Also, he had all those soldiers' lives in his own personal hands.
3 Mrs. Viola Liuzzo - now known as a martyr for civil rights - was told by her husband that she was needed at home more than on the streets of Alabama. But she did not listen to the man God had sent to her to protect her just as she was sent to protect him. Husbands and wifes should listen from the heart to each other because each is a God-sent prophet to one another. On March 25, 1965, Mrs. Liuzzo was driving down an Alabama steet with an African American friend her sideadvise and with license plates from Michigan. Those license plates advertized to all in the Alabama Klan that she was there to help the Black Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. She was followed and shot in a drive-bye shooting. The later endicted killer was Thomas Rowe, an FBI informant and member of the Klan at the same time. The FBI did not do a good check on him before hiring him to inform on the Klan. He had a dual loyalty: to the FBI and to the Klan. He was in the car that shot Mrs. Liuzzo. He was never convicted. /rfK could not get a conviction but tried. The family of Mrs. Liuzzo filed a case against the FBI for negligence but never collected. Mrs. Liuzzo's husband lost his wife and his case against the FBI. Surely, if she had listened with her heart, she would still be alive today.
4) What happened to Northwest Flight 255 on August 16, 1987 when all passengers and crew were killed except a little girl that her mother shielded with her own body to save could have been prevented. Yes, the electronic device -- that shuts down an aircraft automatically on take off if the wing flaps are not down to get more lift -- failed. But the real reason for the crash was one man who did not listen. There was a very strict FAA rule that during take off, no one can talk to the pilots in the cockpit. But a man decided to not listen to that rule and told the pilot a joke while the aircraft was about to lift off. The pilot was making a checklist of all absolute necessary proceedures. Before he could get to the "flaps down", the joke was going on according to the flight recorder. The pilot never got to check off "flaps down" because of being distracted by the steward in his cockpit. Yes, the steward should have been put out of the cockpit, but that would even cause more distraction. The plane took off without lift. It only got 50 feet off the ground when its left wing with jet fuel sheered off. The pilot said an explitive. Then the plane yielded to the right; and its left wing hit an Avis Car rental car dealership. Finally the plane came crashed into an overpass near I 94. It broke in half and bust into flames. It was the worst sole-suviving air crash in aviation history and still remains so. The steward did not listen. People are dead.
5) On January 26, 1986, NASA's US Challenger launched with 6 crew menbers with hopes and dreams that would never come to be. They were all killed because two people did not listen. First, a NASA engineer knew that the O-rings of the space craft booster rockets were tested in 50 degrees of weather. The launch sheduled for January 26 was in temperatures of 38 degrees. That made these critical O-rings to be at Major Risk. Essentially the Challenger would be launched with an "untested" component. The engineer in a memo told this to his exec. The engineer did spot there. He made it his duty to see that exec and tell him personally of the danger of going up in 38 degrees with a untested critical O-rings. The exec heard with his ears but not his heart. He answered the engineer that he would bring it up to the others execs in an upcoming meeting. He lied. He did not bring it up because he wanted the launch to go. There were millions of dollars riding on the civilian satelites to be put in orbit. He did not mention it to his fellow exects. He let the launch proceed as scheduled with a Major Risk on board. All died and all satilites destroyed. The shuttle program was delayed for 18 months. All the engineer asked for was a few weeks. The exec who made that call must think about what he did every day of his life. He did not listen to the engineer with his heart. He only heard with his wallet. God still tried to warn the crew members and stop the launch. God does not interfere with free will; but still God loves His children and does not want them to get hurt when they are playing with their space toys. Christa McAuliffe was a elementary teacher and crew member. He part in the mission was critical. Without the mission could not be accomplished. She was trained and read and suited up. She said good-bye to her family. Even her parents were there at launch to see her go up. But one member of her family was not enthused. McAuliffe's 5-year-old daughter told her Mom this: "Mommy! Do NOT go up in space. It is not safe in space! This was God's last ditch effort to scrap the mission: sending a 5-year-old prophetess. Had "mommy" listened with her heart to the plea of her little daughter who was begging her not to go with all her heart, all of these people would be alive today. God's word can come from anyone: even our own kids. That little girl is 30 years old today. She misses her "mommy" still.
6) I did Risk Assessments for Ford Motor Company at the Body Engineering Building. It was my job to assess every component in the car before lauching "Job 1": full production. Every component that had a "Minor Risk" had to undergo more testing to resolve the problem. A Major Risk for any component stopped Job 1. It costs millions to delay Job 1. In the Pinto, there was a gas tank that when welded had two ways to be assembled. The flange could be welded on top or on the bottom. If welded on top, if a rupture were to occur in the tank due to a vehicle crash, the gas would spill into the street. If welded on the bottom, the gas would spill into the driver's compartment. This condition was a Major Risk; and everyone knew it. When sending out documents to all the engineers, an official engineering report - "Risk Assessment" - had to be returned for consolation and final report to the VP's. The executive in charge of that gas tank made the risk to be "Minor Risk" instead of "Major Risk". This was the first time I have ever heard that done. The Pinto went into production with a "Major Risk". Three women in a Pinto were going down a ramp to the express way in Detroit. But for some reason, they came to a stop at the end of the ramp just a few yards before actually getting on the express way. That is surely very rare and very unexpected. The large van behind them was close. The driver of the van stooped down to pick up something off his van floor. He took his eyes off the road for 3 seconds thinking the car in front of him would surely not slow down but rather would speed up to merge express-way traffic. Before his eyes came back on the road, he crashed into the Pinto with such a force as to rupture the gas tank of the Pinto which caused flaming gas to flood the passenger compartment. All three women were burned alive. Ford loss the law suite against them because the risk assessment records clearly showed the lie the executive had told to the Company and its customers. Ford security guards came to his office, ordered him to clear out his desk and ushered him to the door. He listened to them; but had he listened to the strict Ford rules on Risk Assessment, he would have not lost his job and these three women would not have lost their lives.
7) I can remembr something closer to home. When I was my late teens, I had occasion to go to a wake of a very young mother, age 23. She looked so beautiful "sleeping" there. Her parents were there close and looked dismayed. They had given their daughter in marriage to her husband who was standing there close. I knew him well. For privacy, I will not disclose his name. I will just call him Mr. T. I could see in her parents eyes a pathos and questioning: "How could be give her to him and now he gives her back to us like this?" That is what I was reading on their faces. Faces disclose much. But was it all his fault? Partly. Both had played a crictial role in what was happening now: a viewing of a beautiful mother of three children.
How did it happen? Well, she for six months had not been feeling well. Her husband, Mr. T, tried so hard to get her to go to the doctor. But she would not "listen". Looking back now, I am sure he felt he shoud have flung her over his shoulder and took her to the doctor kicking and screaming if need be. Yes, now he knew what he should have done. When she finally got so painful that she absolutely had to see the doctor and consented, she was examined and was told she was full of gangrene - her whole body. She had 3 days to live! The doctor told them both that he could have saved her if she had come in two months earlier. But Mr. T had begged her to come in to see the doctor for 5 months. Probably she had a severe infection that interfered with her blood supply to different part of her body. I am a great believer that a husband and wife must be obey each other when their health is at stake. Her body is his body. His body is her body. "Husbands, love your wives as you do you own body." Wives, submit to your husbands in everything." St. Paul knew the meaning of marriage. The big thing is the she did not listen to the heart of her husband. She would be alive today if she did. God bless her.
8) Ed Tolman 13 years ago was going fishing at Brennenberg Park, close to where we live. His wife, Antoinette Tolman whom I see at Mass everyday at St. Mary's told Ed NOT to go to the park that day. She did not feel right about it. He just said he would be all right and left. As he embarked in his boat to go fishing, he had a heart attack. He fell unconscious into the water face down. When found, he was gone. If he had listened to the heart of Antoinette, he would have had the heart attack at home. She would have called the EMS and could have saved him. Husbands must listen to their wives. Antoinette is a devout Catholic and misses Ed very much. His break water he built for his property is the only shore line that waves sound like waves. Everybody else's break water is like the sound of water in a bath tub. He was a naturalist. He was a beautiful man.
9) Just 3 days ago, Bernadine - age 96- and Martha - age 74 - went to visit a priest friend. I had seen
Bernandine about a month ago at St. Mary's and gave her my customary hug. I am a hugger because you never know if you will ever see that person again. That is my philosophy for my class of "Hugging 101".
Well, Martha did not feel well, and Father told her not to drive but just to rest. Martha had diabetes bad, and blood sugar was low. She did not listen to Father. She said she would be fine. She left with Bernadine in tow. On the way home doing about 40 mph, she blacked out. I know another diabetes patient who just fainted twice and broke both knees - one at a time. She said that when you go out, you have no warning and
are just down to the floor without knowing it. So it happened to Martha. She went into a ditch and hit a tree without breaking. She and Bernadine died instantly. Their funerals are on the same day, this Saturday, just a hour or so apart. They went to heaven together. Martha and Bernadine would both be alive if Martha had listen to Father. May God give them eternal rest and peace and love.
In our lives, whom is God sending to us to help and save us - to give His word to us? Is it our Mom? Is it our Dad? Is it our kids? Is it our doctor? Is our husband? Is it our wife? Is it our priest or minister? Is it our loving friend? Is it our guardian angel? Is it even our love ones in heaven who watch over us? Is it the very Word of God, the Bible? God uses everyone He wishes to use to give us His Fatherly Counsel - His Word to save us. And Jesus, Himself, is the Word of God made Flesh. Do we listen to Him?
Father, help us to really listen with our hearts when You warn us to show Your love for us. Give us Your Holy Spirit to really listen and to discern when and from whom you are telling us that You love us.
In Jesus's Name we pray. Amen.
Love, Pio
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