The Bells of the Lord

A Call to Listen

In my recent trip to Bolivia we travelled to the small pueblo of Tarata an hour out of Cochabamba. It is a place where time more or less stands still. The town square continues to be the centre of community life and the village cathedral claims the attention, respect, and devotion of all. I watched children play, old men engaged in the game of cacho while conversing and drinking a local brew, and young love huddling close on the plaza’s benches. Above it all, the cathedral’s bells sounded and marked the slow passage of time while announcing the holy truth that life is precious, purposeful, and plentiful. I was reminded of Zechariah’s prophesy of the latter day blessings of the Lord when families, villages, and peoples would know the presence and joy of the Lord (Zechariah 8:3-5).

Thomas Merton rejoices in the bells of the Lord (in his diminutive volume Thoughts in Solitude), annunciating the importance of their celestial calling:

Bells are meant to remind us that God alone is good, that we belong to him, that we are not living for this world.

They break in upon our cares in order to remind us that all things pass away and that our preoccupations are not important.

They tell us that we are His true temple. They call us to peace with Him within ourselves.

The bells say: business does not matter. Rest in God and rejoice, for this world is only the figure and promise of a world to come.

The bells say: we have spoken for centuries from the towers of the great churches. We have spoken to the saints, your fathers and mothers in their land. We called them, as we call you, to sanctity. (Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude)

As we journey through this season of Advent, may we hear the bells of the Lord pealing and announcing that the kingdom of God has drawn near in the birth of the Christmas Child.