Theme:
He Makes the Deaf Hear and the Dumb Speak
In today’s gospel
reading (Mark 7:31-37), Jesus was confronted with a pathetic situation of a man
who was deaf and dumb. Out of pity, he manifested his power to heal all types
of infirmities by healing the man. The man’s healing was dramatic as St Mark
records it: “He took him aside in
private, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched
his tongue with spittle. Then looking up
to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, “Ephphatha”, that is, “Be
opened”. And his ears were opened, and
the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly”. This gospel
narrative fulfills in practical terms, the promise of the first reading (Isaiah
34:4-7). God through the Prophet Isaiah promised to visit the people of Judah: “Look, your God is coming, vengeance is
coming, the retribution of God; he is coming to save you”. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
the ears of the deaf unsealed, then the lame shall leap like a deer and the
tongues of the dumb sing for joy.” Jesus became the fulfillment of this
messianic prophecy just as we saw in the gospel reading.
One could be physically
deaf and dumb and/or spiritually deaf and dumb. One is physically deaf and dumb
when one can neither hear nor talk. There is no communication because the ears
and mouth which are two great organs of communication are inactive. But one is
spiritually deaf and dumb when one’s spirit or soul can neither hear nor talk.
Jesus describes this as those who have ears but cannot hear, have mouths but
cannot speak. Here, there is no inward or outward communication in the spirit.
The soul is just passive. Today, we are more concerned with the deafness and
dumbness of the soul.
Each time we fail to
hear the voice of God speaking to us through our consciences, each time we fail
to read the Bible, each time we fail to listen to or read up a reflection on
the Word of God, each time we fail to listen to the pleas of the poor, the
oppressed and the neglected, then we are spiritually deaf and need God’s
healing. Each time we fail to pray, to proclaim the Good News, to say the
truth, to speak friendly words or words of exhortation, then we are spiritually
dumb and need God’s healing. This questions our reactions when we discover that
we are spiritually deaf and/or dumb. What do we do, who do we run to and how do
we go about it? Do we go to Jesus for healing just as they brought the deaf and
dumb man? Do we follow him away from the crowd? In the midst of the noisy
crowd, we can neither be heard clearly nor hear clearly and that is why we need
to follow Jesus aside in private, away from the crowd so that we may have a
direct contact and healing from him.
As we reflect on the
healing of this man, we may forget the good works of those who brought him to
Jesus to be healed. Some people discriminate against the sick, the physically
challenged and unfortunate ones. They can neither associate with them nor help
them to be healed since they have nothing to offer. This is wrong. Such unfortunate
persons, the bible refers to as “the poor” because they are dependent on
others. They include the sick, widows, orphans, beggars, destitute and all
those who live on the charity of others. But unfortunately, these are the ones
most people in the society avoid or look down upon.
That is why St James
in the second reading (James 2:1-5) advices us: “do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with
the making of distinctions between classes of people” for “it was those who are poor according to the
world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom
which he promised to those who love him”. Therefore, in today’s Eucharistic
celebration, let us pray that God may loosen our tongues and strengthen our
ears, that we may join in the gospel acclamation to pray “speak Lord, your servant is listening…” That our ears may hear the
Good News and our tongues proclaim it in words and actions, especially by
avoiding all sorts of discrimination between the poor and the rich, fortunate
and less fortunate, old and young, sick and healthy so that at the end of our
lives, through our actions we may join the responsorial psalmist to say “My soul give praise to God”. God loves
you.
This reflection is beautiful. God's message is simple, but we often wrestle with its invitation to a selfless and unconditional response to the needs of our less fortunate neighbors. We prefer to use love as the currency with which to purchase favors and attract the things we selfishly desire from other people. We miss the value in relieving the pains of the poor and oppressed. Our blessings reside in our charities to the poor and in telling others the message of God in its raw and simple truth.
ReplyDelete