Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 09-09-12, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Marriage = One Man and One Woman

Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for September 9, 2012:

“Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith.” (James 2: 5) Do you know anyone who is really poor? Look around you. What can you learn of faith from those you see?

Do You Have a Deaf Ear?

Pastor’s Column

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 9, 2012

“…and people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment

and begged him to lay his hand on him.”

Mark 7:32

It always amazes me how soon after a couple is newly married that one of them will go deaf in one ear! Amazingly, this affliction comes and goes, and those times when one ear or the other doesn’t work are usually when a spouse is trying to get the other’s attention and they would rather not hear it! Ok, I admit this is a joke (!) that I often tell at weddings, but there is an element of truth to this, isn’t there?

Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment in this Sunday’s gospel (Mark 7:31-37). This particular healing was quite unusual. Mark goes into great detail as he describes how Jesus heals this man: first by spitting on his tongue; then by placing his fingers in his ears; finally by raising his eyes and groaning! Can you picture this? At times, of course, Jesus merely gives a word to heal someone, or even heals simply by being touched! Why the difference this time?

Jesus uses many and varied ways to touch and heal us. He uses a different technique for each individual and we cannot put him in a box! The Holy Spirit has so many different approaches in our lives (some more dramatic than others, as this scripture testifies to) and the reason for this is so that we can grow and learn as much as possible in the limited time we have here on earth.

When it comes to hearing, or seeing, or understanding, like my newly married friend I joked about, we human beings can be quite selective in what we allow our senses to take in. This can be particularly true when God takes the initiative in our lives and is trying to tell us something! If we are off-track somehow, wouldn’t God try to warn and correct us? How would he normally do this?

The Lord will often try one approach after another to get our attention. Usually he will begin by appealing to our conscience, but if this is not formed correctly, we might not get the warning! He may speak through a scripture that comes to mind or one we hear at Mass on Sunday, but if we are not listening well, we might miss it. He will also try speaking through Church teaching and the catechism, but we may be resistant to this also. We can also hear him through coincidences, circumstances, other people, employers, passersby and other seemingly chance coincidences and encounters that are actually God in action, if only we have the ears to hear. But, of course, hearing God is always a risk! The risk we take is that we may have to change something or convert in some area. Of course, we can also turn a deaf ear to God’s many proposals, but that is one risk no one should want to take.

Father Gary

Sunday Scripture Study

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

September 9, 2012

Click here for USCCB readings

Opening Prayer

First Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7a

Psalm: 146:7-10

Second Reading: James 2:1-5

Gospel Reading: Mark 7:31-37

Jesus has just come from Gentile territory (the Gentile coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon) where he has healed a Canaanite woman’s daughter of a demon (Mark 7:24-30).

In this Sundays episode—which appears only in Mark—he is in Gentile lands again; the region of the Decapolis, a confederation of 10 cities just east of the Sea of Galilee. Ironically, this confederation was founded in part to discourage Jewish incursions.

Jesus’ manner of healing often takes on a sacramental aspect; that is, he incorporates the material into healings done by his Divine power. Similarly, the Sacraments of the Church are not only signs, but signs that effect (actually accomplish) what they signify; for example: the saving power of Baptism through water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21).

Even though Jesus takes pains to conceal his identity (verses 33, 36; also Mark 1:25, 5:43; CCC 439), it is clear that his actions fulfill the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah (Luke 4:1-6; Isaiah 35:4-6; Wisdom 10:21; CCC 549).

QUESTIONS:

In the 1^st Reading, what message did Isaiah have for believers who might have begun to falter in their hope? What are some of the miraculous signs which will identify the coming of the Kingdom of God in these verses? In what ways were they fulfilled by Jesus?

In reference to the 2^nd Reading, how do you behave when the opportunity arises to meet someone famous or wealthy? What association do you have with the poor? Of the two, whose company do you prefer? According to Scripture, what advantages do the poor have that the rich lack?

It seems Jesus goes out of his way to reach this specific individual to heal him (verse 31). What does that tell you about Jesus?

What do you think is the significance of Jesus looking up to heaven and sighing right before he heals the man (Mark 8:11-13)? Could it be related to verses 33a and 36?

Why do you think Jesus used the method he did to heal the man? How is the response of these Gentiles (verse 37) like that of the Jews (1:27; 2:12) and the disciples (4:41)? What do you think is Mark’s point in emphasizing this?

Why do you think that Jesus took the man aside to heal him in private? How has Jesus dealt privately with you (rather than treating you as part of a group)?

In the liturgy (as in the hymn Veni Creator), the Holy Spirit is compared to the finger of God (verse 33). What are the effects that the Holy Spirit has on us that are comparable to the effects that Christ had on the man that was healed (CCC 683, 687)? For us to believe, what must God first do for us (CCC 153)?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 1504, 1151

“Thou who are sevenfold in thy grace,/Finger of God’s right hand,/His Promise, teaching little ones/To speak and understand.” ~From Veni Creator, an ancient hymn in praise of the Holy Spirit

23rd Sunday: Do all things well

El Greco: Healing of the deaf man

"Be opened"

Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/090912.cfm

Is 35: 4 - 7a,

Jm 2: 1-5

Mk 7 31 - 37

How would you want to be remembered after you die? What sort of phrase would you want etched on your grave marker? “He was a great guy?” “She loved her family?” “He loved to fish?” “Dear Grandmother?” How about – “He/She has done all things well?”

The Gospel passage for this Sunday ends with that phrase in reference to Jesus: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” It isn’t the etching on Jesus’ tomb or a reference to the resurrection. Rather it is the commentary of the crowd who note Jesus power of healing a man who is deaf and unable to speak clearly. Yet, it also seems to be an assessment of his overall ministry of healing, compassion, and reaching out to the unlovable. But, wouldn’t that be a wonderful commentary on any of our lives? “He/she has done all things well.”

Indeed we see so in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. In today’s healing story we see Jesus on the move from town to town. Although there was a decidedly contemplative aspect to the life of Jesus, he clearly did not live a cloistered life, waiting for people to come to him. The Gospels assure us that he was on a mission and so he moves today from “. . . the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis . . .” That is from what was Gentile territory in the north of Israel, into Jewish territory, and back again to the Gentiles. His mission was to all, not just to the chosen.

And so he encounters a man deaf and mute who was brought to him perhaps by friends or by loving family members. The ancient belief that such a physical handicap was the result of sin or the result of demon possession is challenged by our modern understanding of medicine and genetics, something unknown in the time of our Lord.

Yet, the scene has the flavor of an exorcism. Jesus spits on the ground, touches the man’s ears and tongue thereby opening them and exorcises the presence of evil to supplant it with the good power of God. Jesus spits on the ground, in the ancient practice of warning the devil, and then he groans in an almost angry manner. You can hear it. A deep, perhaps unnerving sound from him not unlike the shout he exhibited at the tomb of Lazarus as he called him forth from the dead (Jn 11: 41-44). He groans he shouts at the power of evil and takes charge. He claims this moment as his own with divine power.

In an Aramaic word “Ephphatha,” he commands the ears of the man to “Be opened” and immediately the man can hear and speak plainly. To hear and to speak the truth of God is the mission of Jesus and now this man receives that same mission. He too can now hear the truth and speak the truth of who Jesus is not just for him, a Gentile, but for all who would listen. Indeed, as the astonished crowd proclaimed, Jesus has done all things well.

Our first reading from Isaiah is for us Christians a foreshadow of the sign of the Messiah’s presence. He will not be a military or political leader. He will not push the Romans into the Sea in order to free Israel. Rather his mission is loftier. His mission is to put fractured relationships back in order. To gather what has been scattered. To restore the brokenness of creation and bring people to hope.

To open the “. . . eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf be cleared . . . the lame leap like a stag, the tongue of the mute will sing . . .” Poetic imagery to be sure but the message is one of restoration. In the miracle stories of Jesus, as we hear this Sunday, we see constant promise that what God has guaranteed in his Son he has delivered.

One may see in his ministry a kind of social justice to be sure. The letter of St. James today speaks: “Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom . . .” Jesus’ turned the social order of things inside out not in a violent or revolutionary way as history has shown us in such events as the French Revolution of the 18^th century. Rather, his revolution is one of the heart and soul.

He healed this man of his deafness and gave him the ability to go and tell others of the good news that God has visited his people in Christ Jesus. He restored him to acceptable social order then gave him the ability to carry on his own mission. The way to peace and unity is through faith in Christ and his Gospel.

But, what of those who remain blind, deaf, mute? A simplistic understanding of the Christian message may cause us to feel that Jesus’ miracle stories are mere myth. However, we who are entrusted through baptism with a mission are called to carry on the work of Christ. As the Church does through its sacramental system, its charitable organizations, and our active parish life – we become through God’s grace those who reach out to the unlovable, the forgotten, and the defenseless.

It is in our gathering for the Eucharist each weekend that we see our mission fulfilled. We come from many parts to be one Body in Christ. Yet, do we hear?

We are all deaf and mute at times. Sometime our fears hold us back. Sometimes it is our ignorance or laziness. Other times, we may hear about a more comfortable Gospel that speaks more about prosperity and less about the Cross of Christ. Jesus didn’t say, “Pick up your Teddy Bear and follow me.” We may be more persuaded by the Gospel of success or politics rather than the Word of God.

Where am I deaf? When I speak of values and morals do others hear that I am a follower of Jesus Christ or do I just sound like the latest fad or proclaiming what is socially acceptable to the masses?

Will others someday be able to say of me: “He/she did all things well?”

Fr. Tim

Insight Scoop

the True Christ heals

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, September 9, 2012, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
Is 35:4-7a 
Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 
Jas 2:1-5
Mk 7:31-37

--snip--

Compare that with today’s Gospel reading, the story of Jesus healing the deaf mute, which is unique to the Gospel of Mark. It is a masterful and pithy account, filled with theological and spiritual riches. Jesus and the disciples were spending time in Gentile territory, circling north and then east before traveling south to the district of Decapolis, which is east of the Jordan River and south of the Sea of Galilee. During his previous visit to the region, Jesus had freed a man from demonic possession by sending the unclean spirits into a herd of swine (Mk. 5:1-20). Word of his return had apparently spread, and he was asked to heal a man who was both deaf and mute.

The primary source for Mark’s Gospel was Peter, and the detailed description of the healing indicates the head apostle was profoundly moved by what he witnessed. There are seven specific actions described by Jesus: he took the man away from the crowd, touched his finger to the man’s ears, spit, touched the man’s tongue, looked to heaven, groaned, and said, “Be opened!”

In many ancient cultures, saliva was believed to possess healing properties. What is perhaps more striking for the modern reader is the intimate physicality of the action, as when a mother uses her saliva to rub dirt from her child’s cheek. The healing was not the work of a dispassionate doctor, but of the Lover of Mankind, the healer of body and soul. The Son, in becoming man, did not reluctantly put on flesh and blood, but was truly Incarnate, embracing humanity fully, completely, wholly. “That power which may not be handled came down and clothed itself in members that may be touched,” wrote Ephrem the Syrian, the great fourth-century theologian, “that the desperate may draw near to him, that in touching his humanity they may discern his divinity.”

--snip-- the real Christ—the Creator of all things seen and unseen—entered into time and history, experiencing the heat, the hunger, the sorrow, the weariness, and the pain.

But this miracle, like all of Jesus’ healings, was about far more than relief from physical ailments and illness. It was a sign that the Kingdom was established, that streams of living water had been loosed in the desert, and that the poor were being offered the riches of faith and everlasting life. Jesus embraced all of humanity—Jew and Gentile, healthy and ill, hearing and deaf, speaking and mute—because each of us needs to be touched and transformed by his hands and his word.

--snip-- 

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 6, 2009, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Vultus Christi

15th Sunday After Pentecost

By

Father Mark

on September 9, 2012 7:08 AM |

Introit

If you have ever felt desolate, needy, or fragile, you will have found in today's Introit the perfect expression, in prayer to God, of such states. Even the chant melody, with its opening plea, soars upward: it is a prayer originating in the depths of human misery, and stretching, soaring aloft on the wings of faith and of hope:

Incline Thy ear, O Lord, to me and hear me:
Save Thy servant, O my God, that trusteth in Thee:
have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all day.

The text of the Introit is from Psalm 85, a psalm shot through with sentiments of confidence and trust in God, even as the one praying it is acutely, painfully aware of his frailty and utter indigence.

Joy

Ps. Give joy to the soul of Thy servant;
for to Thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.

The psalm verse that accompanies the antiphon asks for spiritual joy: Laetifica animam servi tui, Make joyful the soul of Thy servant. Spiritual joy, like peace of heart, cannot be produced by a mere effort to be cheerful, to put on a happy face. Spiritual joy is one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost. It is a gift of God. It blossoms and comes to fruition on the branches of that mystical tree planted within the soul, the roots of which are faith, hope, and charity.

Prayer of the Church: Prayer of the Soul

The Collect of today's Mass continues the motif of supplication given by the Introit on the threshold of the celebration. In the Collect, appealing to God's abiding compassion, we ask him to cleanse His Church and to defend her. Cleansing pertains to the filth within; defense pertains to attacks from without. Whenever, in the liturgy, we pray for the Church, we are, by the same token, praying for our own souls. Personalized, if you will, the sense of the first part of the Collect is this: "In thy abiding compassion, O Lord, cleanse Thou my soul of the accumulated filth within, and defend me against attacks from without."

Spiritual Battlefield

The Collect reminds us that the Christian stands, at every moment, on a battlefield. The invisible enemies of our souls -- those who would rob us of inner joy and of trust in God's abiding compassion -- are forever strategizing to bring us down. That is why we ask God to defend us in the Collect.

Governed by God's Protecting Gift

The prayer goes on to say that, without God, the Church cannot hold her ground in the face of a world at enmity with all that she represents and teaches. Therefore, we pray that the Church may be governed -- gubernatur-- by God's protecting gift. The idea of gubernatur is related to the rudder that steers the course of a ship at sea. The rudder of Peter's fragile bark -- the ship of the Church tossed about on history's stormy seas -- is, we can be confident, in the hand of one made strong by the gift of God.

Life in the Spirit

In the Epistle, Saint Paul speaks to us of life in the Church, of our relations with one another. "Brethren, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." One cannot claim to live in the Holy Ghost, that is, in a state of sanctifying grace, if the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are not operative in us, and if the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost are meagre or paltry.

If, in a community (understand, here, family, or marriage, or parish, or monastic community), one finds envy, harshness, and rash judgment, that community is not giving evidence of the presence of the Holy Ghost. Quite to the contrary, another spirit is at work.

Bearing One Another's Burdens

Saint Paul would have us bear one another's burdens. Saint Benedict says something similar in Chapter 72 of the Holy Rule: "Let them most patiently endure one another's infirmities, whether of body or of mind." Each of us, he says, has his own burden to carry. We are not to judge why such and such a burden has been laid upon one and not on another; we have only to do everything in our power to lighten a brother's burden by taking upon ourselves something of the load that crushes him beneath its weight.

Transmission of the Faith

Saint Paul, moreover, considers it vital that the community of the Church be a place of ongoing instruction in the faith. A monastery, like a Catholic marriage, family, or parish, cannot function healthily on pious sentiments and half-baked opinions. Some form of systematic, objective teaching of the faith is indispensable. The sacred liturgy provides the framework and the substance for such teaching.

Praise and Adoration

Instruction -- even the best liturgical catechesis -- is not enough by itself. The Gradual tells us that " it is sweet to praise the Lord, to sing unto the Name of the Most High." The instruction that leads not to praise, to adoration, to thanksgiving, is sterile and vain. When Blessed Columba Marmion taught dogmatic theology to his Benedictine students in Louvain, they would, after his classes, go immediately from the lecture hall to the church, compelled to fall down in adoration and to give praise for what they had learned.

Gospel

The Gospel we are given today has been the subject of innumerable commentaries by the Fathers. Saint Luke presents the scene with a consummate artistry. He is very good at depicting scenes from real life. (This, I think, is part of what contributed to his reputation as an artist, an iconographer, and to his role as the patron saint of painters.) There are two groups in movement. The first of these -- I see it moving from left to right, or from west to east, that is, out of darkness into light -- is assembled around the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Life. The second group -- I see it moving from right to left, or from east to west, that is, out of light into darkness -- is assembled around the corpse of a young man, and the shattered profile of his widowed mother, groaning and weeping.

The Heart of Jesus Moved to Pity

The two groups come together. Here Saint Luke uses a very beautiful phrase describing Jesus' reaction to the widow's grieving. In the Latin it is, Quam cum vidisset Dominus, misericordia motus super eam; "When the Lord saw her, he was moved to heartfelt pity over her." This is the core of the story: a revelation of the Heart of Jesus.

Return to Life

What follows is a simple expression: Noli flere. Do not weep. Jesus stops the movement of the bier; he stops the movement westward into the regions of darkness and night. He addresses the young man who, in response to the word of Jesus, sits up and begins to speak. Jesus gives him back to his mother.

An Outburst of Praise

What happened then? Saint Luke tells us only that the two groups were overcome with awe, and that there was a great outburst of praise to God. I should think that, then, both groups joined to form a single procession from west to east, out of darkness into light. Therein, we have an image of the pilgrim Church, of the Church ever in movement: out of what is old, decaying, and marked by weeping and groans into newness of life, into what is fresh, and fragrant with a sweetness not of this world, and marked by praise and by awe in the presence of God.

Offertory

The Offertory Antiphon continues the Gospel story, for it gives us the very prayer of the young man raised to life: "Waiting, I waited for Lord, and and at last he turned his face towards me, and listened to my plea. He has put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God" (Psalm 39:2-4).

Secret

The Secret Prayer will return to the motif of spiritual battle evoked already in the Collect: we will pray to be guarded by the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, and defended from diabolical onslaughts.

Communion Antiphon

The Communion Antiphon, which is really meant to be chanted during the procession of the faithful to receive the Holy Mysteries, is nothing less than Our Lord Himself addressing those who approach to receive His Sacred Body: "The bread which I am to give, is my flesh for the life of the world" (John 6:52). In other words, "What I did for the son of the widow of Naim, I will also do for you, and this, by giving you my own resurrected and glorious Body, the seed of eternal life in you."

Postcommunion

Finally, the Postcommunion will be very practical today. Even after participating fully, consciously, and actually in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, there remains the danger of returning to the humdrum world of ordinary concerns, and of acting and make choices based, not on the splendour of the truth that has been given us here, but on our subjective impressions and emotional responses. "May the operation of this heavenly gift take hold, O Lord, of our minds and bodies, so that its effect may forestall our feelings."

Towards the Light Eternal

The procession must go on, from west to east, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of mourning and weeping into chants of joy and cries of gladness. The rhythm of the march is marked by the liturgy of the Church. One who walks with the Church is walking towards the light eternal. Of this, there can be no doubt.

Regnum Christi

Be Opened!

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mark 7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man´s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, Ephphatha! that is, "Be opened!" And immediately the man´s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to you once again in prayer. Even though I cannot see you, my faith tells me that you are present. You are ready to listen and desire to speak with me. Your presence gives me hope, because you are the all-powerful God, the creator of heaven and earth. You are the source of all that is good in my life. Nothing happens to me without your knowing and permitting it. My hope leads me to love. I want to be one with you in mind and heart, identifying myself with your will and your standards.

Petition: Lord, teach me how to be alone with you. Help me to encounter you.

1. Away from the Crowd: Why does Jesus take the deaf man off by himself away from the crowd? Jesus wants to be alone with him, away from the noise and activity of the crowd. He wants to be able to communicate with him in silence and solitude. Jesus invites me also to go away from the crowd, away from the activity and noise of life, away from other people and distractions, in order to pray. Jesus invites me to be alone with him so that he can reveal himself to my soul and heal the impediments that keep me from communicating his love and truth to others.

2. The Human Effort to Heal: Many times in the Gospel, Jesus works a miracle with a mere word. But sometimes he performs miracles with a physical act, as in this case, when he puts his finger into the man’s ears and touches his tongue with spittle. What are we to make of this? What can we learn from it? Many times, our healing requires a human effort. Action must be taken. We are not purely spiritual beings, but body and spirit woven into one. So our physical side plays a part. We kneel to pray. We go into the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We make an effort to read Scripture. We do all of these physical things so that our entire being, both body and soul, can be healed of sin and grow closer to Christ.

3. To Speak Plainly: The fruit of this encounter with Christ and of the effort that Christ makes is clarity –– plain speech. The fog of imperfection is removed and the deaf-mute begins to speak with the clarity and the forcefulness of truth –– so much so that the people are astounded. If I have truly encountered Christ, the fog that veils my mind and muddles my speech will be removed. The double-edged sword of God’s truth will shine through my words and actions so much so that people will be astounded.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I want to be your disciple. I want your truth and love to shine in my life. Open my intellect so that I can perceive your truth as it really is. Soften my heart to love you with a pure love that overflows into the hearts of those around me. Strengthen my will to choose you and your ways steadfastly.

Resolution: I will make the effort today to set aside some time to pray away from the business of life.

Christ the Healer

Sunday, September 9, 2012 by Food for Thought

FirstReading: Is 35:4-7a
Psalm: Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10
SecondReading: Jas 2:1-5
Gospel: Mk 7:31-37

Deafness is one of the worst handicaps that a person can have. One of the tragic aspects of deafness is that it arouses little sympathy in others. We usually reach out with great compassion to the blind and go out of our way to help them. But we often get annoyed or even make fun of people who are hard of hearing.

In today’s Gospel reading Mark tells the story in unusual detail. We read not merely of Jesus touching and speaking to the deaf-mute, but touching the affected parts – the ears and the tongue of the deaf-mute using saliva as a means of the healing. This more elaborate method of healing instead of just a word of command is more appropriate for a deaf man. The use of saliva for healing was quite common in ancient times. The words “Be opened” were probably the first words the deaf-mute ever heard.

In this story we can see the compassionate heart of Jesus, not only in the physical healing of the deaf-mute, but also in expressing his loveand care by touching, and using the symbol that the person can understand. For the sick person, he was the focus of the love and attention of Jesus at that moment.

Jesus continues to heal people today. He gives the power of healing to the Church, especially through the Sacrament of the Sick, sometimes called the Sacrament of Healing, or the Anointing of the Sick. Unfortunately, this Sacrament has been misunderstood and wrongly named in the past. It is popularly known as “Extreme Unction” or “The Last Sacrament,” which focuses on the secondary purpose of the Sacrament, which is to prepare a person for death if that is God’s will at the time. The Sacrament prepares him to go in peace and joy to the Father in the company of Jesus. But because of the misunderstanding, people often have a negative attitude toward the Sacrament. They wait until the very last dying moment of the sick person before they frantically
look for a priest. And oftentimes it is too late.

It is important to remember that the primary purpose of the Sacrament is to restore health of body and spirit to the sick person. Jesus in today’s Gospel uses saliva as the healing agent. The Church uses oil, which is believed to have healing and strengthening quality as the material for the Sacrament.

Aside from healing through the Sacrament of the Sick, Christ today heals through the Church in a number of other ways. A great number of hospitals are Church related. God heals through the skills and caring actions of physicians and nurses. That’s why a number of people would go to the priest to receive the Sacrament of Healing before going for a major operation.

More important, there is a spiritual side to today’s Gospel reading – the healing of the soul. Aside from the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a number of people who were depressed, and overburdened with life’s problem have come to the parish for counseling and spiritual direction.
Usually after some talks and guidance in prayer, they would go out a changed person – experiencing the peace and the freedom promised by Jesus. They become stronger and hopeful. They go back a happy person.

When we are deaf to God’s word, we become like those unfortunate who are physically deaf: we are immersed in God’s world, yet we understand little of what is going on. We see people being born and people dying, we see a lot of pain and heartaches, and we see everywhere violence and strife, disappointment and failure, broken homes and broken live – and we do not know why.

We also see some people radiantly happy, some beautiful and productive lives, some people gracefully aging in eager anticipation of somethingbeyond death – and we do not see why. Yes indeed spiritual deafness is a great misfortune!

The saving action of Jesus makes a person an effective Christian: a believer and apostle. We cannot be effective apostle to others; we cannot speak if we are dumb. We have nothing to speak about if we are deaf, for we have heard nothing, we have no message to pass on to them. And Jesus gives us the power to speak to witness to that message by our lives.

Each Sunday liturgy is a reliving of the deaf-mute’s experience. We are made to hear the word of God and to respond to it through confession of faith.

One Bread, One Body

<< Sunday, September 9, 2012 >>

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Isaiah 35:4-7
James 2:1-5
View Readings

Psalm 146:6-10
Mark 7:31-37

THE CROWD OF DISOBEDIENCE

"Jesus took him off by himself away from the crowd." —Mark 7:33

Jesus excluded the crowd from witnessing the healing of a deaf and dumb man. When the crowd recognized that the man had been healed, Jesus "enjoined them strictly not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it" (Mk 7:36). Although the deaf and dumb man had been transformed, the crowd was not. It was still spiritually deaf because it would not listen to Jesus. Since it did not listen to Jesus, it was spiritually dumb in that it could not effectively communicate the gospel.

Many Christians remain in the crowd. We have closed our ears to Jesus. We are disobedient. We don't witness for Jesus when, where, and how He tells us. Even when we do speak up for Jesus, we don't say what He tells us. We "water down" the gospel to make it more and more palatable to a lukewarm, secularized "Christianity." Because our ears are not open to Jesus, we, like the crowd, are ineffective in communicating the gospel even if we open our mouths.

Jesus wants to put His holy fingers into your ears, sighing: " 'Ephphatha!' (that is, 'Be opened!')" (Mk 7:34) Invite Jesus to be the Lord of your hearing and speaking.

Prayer: Prayer: Father, I repent. Through disobedience, may I not be crowded out from Your works. Give me "ears open to obedience" (Ps 40:7).

Promise: "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing." —Is 35:5-6

Praise: Praise You, Jesus, Healer, Savior, and Redeemer! Praise You for opening our ears to hear Your good news.

Prayer for Life

Dearest Lady of Guadalupe, fruitful Mother of Holiness, teach me your ways of gentleness and strength. Hear my prayer, offered with deep-felt confidence to beg this favor...

O Mary, conceived without sin, I come to your throne of grace to share the fervent devotion of your faithful Mexican children who call to thee under the glorious Aztec title of "Guadalupe"--the Virgin who crushed the serpent.

Queen of Martyrs, whose Immaculate Heart was pierced by seven swords of grief, help me to walk valiantly amid the sharp thorns strewn across my pathway. Invoke the Holy Spirit of Wisdom to fortify my will to frequent the Sacraments so that, thus enlightened and strengthened, I may prefer God to all creatures and shun every occasion of sin.

Help me, as a living branch of the vine that is Jesus Christ, to exemplify His Divine charity always seeking the good of others. Queen of Apostles, aid me to win souls for the Sacred Heart of my Savior. Keep my apostolate fearless, dynamic and articulate, to proclaim the loving solicitude of Our Father in Heaven so that the wayward may heed His pleading and obtain pardon, through the merits of your merciful Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

St. Paul Center

All Things Well: Reflections on the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 09.06.12 |

The incident in today’s Gospel is recorded only by Mark. The key line is what the crowd says at the end: “He has done all things well.” In the Greek, this echoes the creation story, recalling that God saw all the things he had done and declared them good (see Genesis 1:31).

Mark also deliberately evokes Isaiah’s promise, which we hear in today’s First Reading that God will make the deaf hear and the mute speak. He even uses a Greek word to describe the man’s condition (mogilalon = “speech impediment”) that’s only found in one other place in the Bible—in the Greek translation of today’s Isaiah passage, where the prophet describes the “dumb” singing.

The crowd recognizes that Jesus is doing what the prophet had foretold. But Mark wants us to see something far greater—that, to use the words from today’s First Reading: “Here is your God.”

Readings:
Isaiah 35:4-7
Psalm 146:7-10
James 2:1-5
Mark 7:31-37

Notice how personal and physical the drama is in the Gospel. Our focus is drawn to a hand, a finger, ears, a tongue, spitting. In Jesus, Mark shows us, God has truly come in the flesh.

What He has done is to make all things new, a new creation (see Revelation 21:1-5). As Isaiah promised, He has made the living waters of baptism flow in the desert of the world. He has set captives free from their sins, as we sing in today’s Psalm. He has come that rich and poor might dine together in the Eucharistic feast, as James tells us in today’s Epistle.

He has done for each of us what He did for that deaf mute. He has opened our ears to hear the Word of God, and loosed our tongues that we might sing praises to Him.

Let us then, in the Eucharist, again give thanks to our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Let us say with Isaiah, Here is our God, He comes to save us. Let us be rich in faith, that we might inherit the kingdom promised to those who love Him.

http://resources.sainteds.com/showmedia.asp?media=../sermons/homily/2012-09-09-Homily%20Fr%20Gary.mp3&ExtraInfo=0&BaseDir=../sermons/homily