"Harden not your hearts"

I like the response to today's psalm which goes, "If today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts." (Psalm 95:7-8) This is about listening and remaining open. This also brings us back to the first reading for today from Jeremiah 7:23-28 where we read that God's command is to "listen to my voice". Then it goes on to say, four times, that the people did not listen. They simply followed their own ways. The prophet is really speaking to the religious leaders of his day because their rituals and prayers were all about manipulation and control. As the prophet says at the end, "Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths." In a similar way, as we read in today's gospel from Luke 11:14-23, religious leaders in Jesus' time wanted to attack Jesus because he was undermining their control by freely healing people and releasing them from demons. They tried to claim that he was under the control of the devil. Jesus pointed out the stupidity of their claim that the devil could hardly be trying to expel himself from the domain of people's minds and hearts. Reflecting upon these reading, it brings to mind the continued tendency towards manipulation and control in the Church today. In an attempt to move towards a new way of being Church, Pope Francis, in his synod on synodality is trying to get people, women and men, lay and ordained, to listen to one another and to open their hearts to the movement of God in our world.