Hey Jesus, Pay Attention - I´m Talking to You!

When I was a boy I loved reading short stories about an Italian priest called Don Camillo who was constantly arguing with the town mayor, a Communist called Peppone. The stories by Giovannino Guareschi were set in a small town in northern Italy after the end of the Second World War when the Communist Party was so popular, as a result of its role in combatting the Fascists and Nazis, that there was a real possibility that it could take control of the country. The Church was one of its strongest opponents.   

The stories were amusing and had a satirical aspect which was above my head. I always remember that when Don Camillio faced a particularly tricky problem in his ongoing confrontations with the Godless Peppone, he would go into his church, stand in front of the crucifix and talk to Jesus. To my amazement Jesus would talk back and he and Don Camillo would have a chat in which Jesus often chided him for his behavior.

I used to feel jealous of Don Camillo and wished Jesus would talk to me when I kneeled in front of him and prayed with all the fervor of an 11-year-old who wanted God to make all his wishes come true. Much as I tried, Jesus never opened his mouth. He did not even look at me.  

Over half a century later Jesus has still never spoken to me. However, what he has done is make me think a lot about prayer. For me prayer means speaking directly to God or on occasions to Our Lady or a specific saint. Sometimes you pray aloud and sometimes in silence but God never says anything back. He never agrees or disagrees with you and he certainly never answers your questions. The reason why is because he is already inside you and is as much a part of you as any internal organ. As we say during the mass in in Portuguese “Ele está no meio de nós”. This does not just mean that he is a presence we share communally at that moment but that he is a presence within each one of us. He is your soul. Everyone has a soul and it is the most important part of us. We should accept it as the greatest gift God has given us. We should not be like Hamlet who says,

“What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.”

At the end of his musings, Hamlet turns his back on what God has given us in favor of his own egoism and self importance. A contemporary American writer, Caroline Myss, gives a perfect riposte to Hamlet and other sceptics when she says “The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.”

© John Brander Fitzpatrick 2025