(optional) Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
(I kings
11:29-32.12:19; Mark 7:31-37)
Today’s
gospel has the descriptive power of Homer’s Iliad. Jesus takes the deaf
man with a speech impediment aside. He puts
his fingers in the man’s ears and spits on his tongue. Then in his native language pronounces, “Ephphatha
(be opened)!” The unfortunate man immediately receives both hearing and
articulation.
We probably
don’t have difficulty hearing or speaking.
Yet most of us need to be opened! We are closed to a strong faith in the
Lord. We think that science will keep
advancing to resolve our problems until we die.
Then the same science will progress to take care of the problems of our
descendants. But the truth is that the
same problems keep recurring. They are like
the pesty mouse that cannot be caught.
These are the defects of love and of wisdom that we experience. Their resolution is found in being opened to
the Lord. Allowing him to enter our
lives fully will heal the heart’s wounds.
It will provide the grace and wisdom to live righteously.
Today we
remember Our Lady of Lourdes and the many, many miracles worked where she
appeared. We may not be sick with cancer
or other life-limiting disease. But we
are likely sick anyway. We suffer from
lack of full faith in the Lord. We too
need Our Lady’s intercession.
