Homily for the Week of September 9, 2012

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time B 2012 First Reading: Isaiah 35:4–7a Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 146:7, 8–9, 9–10 Second Reading: James 2:1–5 Gospel: Mark 7:31–37 Those of you that follow the gospel readings Sunday after Sunday, or those of you who spent some time each day in reading from the Bible realize that Jesus is at times long winded. For example, his Sermon on the Mountain covers three entire chapters in St. Matthew's Gospel, and his speech at the Last Supper covers four chapters. More often, however Jesus follows the traditional advice given to preachers, namely Be bold, be brief, be gone. Jesus frequently presents his point in a concise form using a story. There are times, like today, when Jesus cuts to the very meaning of the message that you can count the words on one hand. There are times when a situation is so critical and his reaction and response so urgent that he cannot waste a word. For instance at one time he heals a crippled person with four words: Your sins are forgiven. He heals a person who had leprosy with three words: Be made clean. He calls Levi, the tax collection with two words: Follow me. But Jesus wins the bonus for few words in today's Gospel when he heals the deaf man with a speech impediment, not with five words, not with four words, not with three or two words, but with just one single, emphatic and dramatic word ephphatha (ef-fa-tha). This word is from the ancient Aramaic language that Jesus and his friends spoke. It is translated into English by the two words: Be opened. Today's gospel tells us that no sooner had Jesus said this one word immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. What is our reaction to this story? Is this just another episode that happened almost 2000 years ago but has little or no meaning or impact upon us today? After all, hearing aids are available to improve the hearing of the deaf. There are speech therapists trained to deal with speech impediments. As a matter of fact, most of us do not have a hearing or speech problem. Or do we? How well do we listen? We hear that we should quit smoking, but we keep puffing, polluting the fresh air that we breathe. We hear that we should moderate our drinking, but we keep guzzling the booze that does nothing to nourish us and everything to hurt us and harm others. We ignore traffic laws, drive too fast, jabber on cell phones -- instead of giving full attention to the difficult duty of driving. How often do we allow our friends or class mates to pressure us into doing something we know is wrong? Are we listening? Do we listen when Jesus speaks to us? Do we turn a deaf ear to all the commercial and domestic noise that bombards us, and instead open the ear of the heart to the words of Jesus? Do we really pay attention to the message Jesus has prepared for us whenever we come to Mass and hear again his Good News? Do we take prime time to read a chapter of the Bible and ask ourselves, What do these words mean to me personally, and what am I doing about them? We may not have a legitimate speech impediment. But how well and how often do we speak up in the face of obvious injustice and discrimination? How long do we wait to report a serious unfair act or omission? Most of all, do we remember what St. Paul says about speaking? If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. Do we speak the language of love or the vocabulary of violence, arrogance, domination, superiority, or control? At every Catholic baptism much of what Jesus did to the deaf person is done to the child. At the baptism of an infant, a prayer is recited: The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and those who could not speak, speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father. While saying the prayer the priest touches the ear and the lips of the child. The invitation to us all is to be “open” to talking about and living our religious faith. How often do we thank God for our double gift of hearing and speaking? It is so easy for us to become deaf to these signs and words of Jesus and God. Most of us probably have fairly good hearing, but our ability to know what to listen for may not be very well developed. I would like to give you an example that illustrates what we just heard from the Bible. Some of you may have listened to the violin music of Joshua Bell, a 45 year old classical violinist. A few year ago the Washington Post newspaper wanted to conduct an experiment as to how people listen. Joshua Bell was dressed like a street musician. He was placed in one of the subway stations of Washington, DC with his expensive Stradivarius violin. He was videotaped on hidden camera. He started playing the same violin compositions which he had played the night before as solo violinist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. During 45 minutes 1,097 people passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him. I presumed that those who passed by had good hearing, but their ability to know what to listen for may not have been well developed -- at least not in the area of music. We who are blessed with hearing are sometimes not good listeners. This happens in families a lot. spouses with each other, children with parents and parents with children. This happens with God too.God hears but we don’t always hear him. That is why we need to keep reading the Bible over and over. That is why we need to take quiet time to pray, because there is so much noise around us. God usually speaks to us in a very quiet voice. In fact often speaks to us in thoughts rather than in words. Today Jesus continues to do all things well as he steps out of the page of the gospel and stands before each of us. He lovingly touches our ears and our mouth and says to us in his powerful word of healing: Ephphatha--that is, Be opened. We leave this Mass today with new ears open to hear the Good News of God's unconditional love. We leave this Mass today with a new tongue loosened to speak up and speak out the truth, the peace that are God's gift to us and to all.