February 14, 2025

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

(Gen 3:1-8; Mark 7:31-37)

Today’s gospel takes place in the Decapolis.  This region is populated by Gentiles so that the “deaf man who had a speech impediment” may be presumed to be one.  Furthermore, just being deaf and having a speech impediment, the man represents all Gentiles who do not hear the word of God, much less to proclaim it to others.

Since the Decapolis is not on the direct route to the Sea of Galilee, Jesus evidently has intended to go there to expand his ministry to Gentiles.  Taking the man away from the crowd, Jesus, it may be said, is preparing him for Baptism.  Then with two gestures that have become part of the Baptismal rituals (although optional today), Jesus cures him of his maladies.  This Gentile will now praise the God of Israel and His Messiah. Jesus will be seen by Jews as well as the Messiah sine his healings fulfill its prophecy in Isaiah.

We need to see Jesus as our Messiah as well.  When we find ourselves in need – perhaps someone has wronged us or we have done something foolish – instead of cursing, we can turn to the Messiah for help.  Yes, this means following his ways as well but they only lead us to salvation.

Sunday, September 8, 2024

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 35:4-7; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37)

A knowledge of Israel's geography will help us capture the meaning of today's Gospel. The reading tells us that Jesus encounters the deaf and mute man in the region of Decapolis.  It is a place of Greek-Roman culture. So it can be confidently said that the man is a pagan. As such, he cannot give thanks and praise to God.

However, Jesus' actions free him from his impediments. By putting His fingers in the man’s ears, Jesus opens them so that he may hear the word of God. By touching his tongue with saliva, Jesus loosens it so that he can give his testimony about Jesus. Both actions serve as a sign of baptism, which makes us followers of Jesus, ready to proclaim Him as the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, even today, the touching of the ears and mouth is included in the rite of baptism.

We who are baptized are called to speak about Jesus in a world that would abolish his name. The way the French mocked Jesus at the Olympics indicated this unfortunate development. Although there are many righteous Muslims, in countries with a Muslim majority, there is almost inevitably an effort to either force the conversion of Christians or keep them subjugated. We can also see the disregard for Christianity in authoritarian governments like those of China and Russia, which seek to control the Church.

However, there are men and women who defend our faith. Last year, a woman who was Muslim in her childhood and atheist in her youth converted to Christianity. Now she proclaims Christianity as the best way to confront forces that seek to strangle Christianity and dominate the human person. Highly intelligent and articulate, Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali sees in Jesus and the Church ways to confront the threats not only to Christianity but also to freedom.

Mrs. Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia. Her family was Muslim, but did not practice that faith. In 2002, Hirsi Ali condemned the attacks on the Twin Towers the previous year and criticized Islam for its doctrine of jihad against “infidels.” She then embraced atheism for its way of elevating reason over human folly without any illusions of an afterlife.  Atheism seemed to her more realistic and beneficial to the world than any alternative. In time, however, she began to rethink the matter.  She saw faults in rationalism and noted that Christianity had overcome threats as great as the overbearing forces that want to dominate the world today: the authoritarianism and expansionism of Russia and China, the fanaticism of Islam, and the ideology of “woke” culture. She concluded that only the Judeo-Christian tradition has the capacity to defend the common good.

Perhaps we are thinking: What does the struggle against world dominating forces have to do with us here? I believe it has a lot to do with us. Unless we listen to the word of God and speak of it to our children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and friends, they will fall victim to these evil forces. To protect them, we want them to know Jesus, who gave us the blueprint for a just and strong society. Even more importantly, He sent us the Holy Spirit to recognize evil and fight against it.

We do not want to be alarmists. On the contrary, we should calmly and deliberately explain to anyone who will listen that Jesus is the savior, as the first reading indicates. He has come as a justice-giver to the faithful.

Friday, February 9, 2024

 Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 (I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:31-37)

The film Babel, an Academy Award nominee a number of years ago, showed how the world is interconnected.  A Japanese schoolgirl is deaf and mute like the man brought to Jesus in the gospel today.  She is also desperately lonely.  Her father, who is depressed over the loss of his wife, had been hunting in Morocco where he left his gun with a guide.  The guide sells the gun to a herder who presents it prematurely to his son.  The son is goaded into shooting at a tour bus and seriously injures a Southern Californian woman traveling with her husband.  The couple left their children with their Mexican housekeeper whose reckless nephew takes them across the border, then jeopardizes everyone’s life by trying to evade the Border patrol upon returning.  The story leaves the viewer identifying with all of these characters in the global human quest for love.

In today’s gospel Jesus takes compassion on the deaf-mute whom he heals.  Most people today have a similar trouble in hearing– not so much with their ears but with their hearts.  They cannot hear what God is telling them through the Scriptures.  They also falter in speech by forgetting to thank God for the blessings they have received. 

In a world where convenience and pleasure have overtaken discipline and dedication as human goals, we do well to allow Jesus to open our ears and to coordinate our tongues.  We want to assimilate the Word of God so that we might proclaim it to the world. This message is similar to that of Babel – people need to listen carefully to one another and to respond compassionately.

 

Friday, Gebruary 11, 2022

 (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.

Friday, February 15, 2019

Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Genesis 3: 1-8; Mark 7:31-37)

It is a classic axiom that humans do not choose evil because it is bad.  Rather they choose it under the aspect of some good that it brings.  In today’s first reading the serpent tempts the woman by mentioning apparent advantages of eating the forbidden fruit.  First, her “eyes would be opened”; that is, she will have gained insight or knowledge.  Then it adds that she and her mate “will be like gods.”  They will not only know more but will decide for themselves right and wrong.  Once the woman’s reason has been stirred by the serpent’s ideas, she imagines other benefits.  The fruit becomes “pleasing to the eye” and apparently to the palate.

The story is reflected in every sin.  The thief prizes another person’s treasure more than the person’s right to keep what she has legitimately obtained.  The fornicator thinks little of the harm he creates by satisfying his lust but mostly of the pleasure it gives.  Even people who know well of the evil that sin incurs may commit it anyway for the sense of autonomy it brings.

In today’s gospel as everyday Jesus is proclaimed as doing the Father’s gracious will.  He restores hearing and clear speech to the man as a sign of God’s love.  Such love is manifested in every judgment of conscience that some act would be evil.  In refusing to sin, we acknowledge that God forbids evil acts because He loves us.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

(Genesis 3:1-8; Mark 7:31-37)

The surgeon came to see the patient with a broken femur. He brusquely maneuvered the injured leg and asked if the patient felt any pain. There wasn’t any. The doctor knew his craft. His colleague would mend the bone with a metal plate. The patient would be told that he would never have to look at the scar to determine which leg had been broken, but that did not turn out to be the case. Within two years he could feel no difference between his two legs.

Jesus acts like the surgeon in the gospel reading. He fingers the deaf man’s ears and spits on his hampered tongue as a kind of therapy. Perhaps he entreats his Father when he looks up to heaven, but there is a sense that he has mastered the art of healing. In any event, the man’s defects are corrected; he can hear Jesus’ voice and thank him for the act of mercy.

Because of the many cures witnessed at Lourdes over the last century and a half, sick Catholics flock there for healing around the anniversary of the first appearance of our Lady. It is said that a communal faith is felt among the pilgrims that overshadows personal desire for relief. Most people return home with their ailments unassuaged but at the same time supremely uplifted. Jesus has touched them. They can now endure the pains of illness and even face the terror of death. He has made them all right.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:31-37)

The film Babel, an Academy Award nominee a few years ago, showed how the world is interconnected. A Japanese schoolgirl is deaf and mute like the man brought to Jesus in the gospel today. She is also desperately lonely. Her father, who is depressed over the loss of his wife, had been hunting in Morocco where he left his gun with a guide. The guide sells the gun to a herder who presents it prematurely to his son. The son is goaded into shooting at a tour bus and seriously injures a Southern Californian woman traveling with her husband. The couple left their children with their Mexican housekeeper whose reckless nephew takes them across the border, then jeopardizes everyone’s life by trying to evade the Border patrol upon returning. The story leaves the viewer identifying with all of these characters in the global human quest for love.

We should similarly identify with that deaf-mute whom Jesus heals. We too have trouble hearing– not so much with our ears but with our hearts. We too falter in our speech by forgetting to give the testimony of faith to those in need of assurance. In a world where sensual gratification has become not only the lowest common denominator but also the highest recognizable goal, we do well to allow Jesus to open our ears and to straighten our tongues so that we might proclaim what is truly a truer fulfilling. This is the message of Babel – people need to listen carefully to one another and to respond compassionately.