“When you feel restless, sad, sorrowful and embittered, look for the cause, and if it is not worth being sorry about (and nothing that does not offend God is worth being sorry about), get rid of your anxiety; if you do not see the causes but feel restless and dissatisfied all the same, put up with it, arm yourself with patience, let the storm pass, and your inner peace will return.” Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer 

 

These feelings and emotions are part of the human journey. What we do with them or allow them to do to us is the issue. If these feelings come from sin on our part, then repent of the sin and return to the Lord. If they come from circumstances of life, which we have no control of, entrust oneself into the hands of the Lord, sharing in his passion. Turn the focus from ourselves to the Lord, who alone can make lemonade out of lemons. The peace that we desire during these times comes from our relationship with the Lord.

 

"God speaks in the silence of the heart.”  St Teresa of Calcutta 

 

When the prophet Elijah waited to hear God’s plan for him, it was in the quiet whisper in silence that he received his message. In that silence God’s quiet voice is heard. It is hard for us to enter into the quiet of silence because our mind is all over the place. Yet, that is the place and time God reveals his plan for us. There is no audible voice, but an inner awareness that brings peace to us. God himself gives us this direction in the Scriptures. “Be still and know that I am God.” Should we not follow it?

 

Homily Twenty-Third Sunday Year B

Reading 1:

Background.  People are exiled in Babylonia because they broke their sacred covenant with God. Isaiah gives them a message of hope from God. He said that God will bring them back, just as he delivered their ancestors, who were in bondage in Egypt. As God purified their ancestors in the desert for forty years and led them into the Promised Land, so God will deliver those now in exile.

 

While in exile, many had become accustomed to their new homeland and didn’t want to leave. Some were frightened of the harshness of the journey. God’s response: do not be afraid. Isaiah reminds them that it is God who will lead them back to Judea. He is their savior.

 

Isaiah reminds the people that God will give them signs, just as he did as of old. The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the crippled will walk and dance, those mute will speak. God will provide water to drink even in the desert. Do not be afraid. Trust and obey.

 

How often do we need to hear the same comforting words in the midst of our difficulties! We may not be in exile, but we are confronted with our own problems, personal and social, political and ecclesial.

 

Reading 2:

The focus of this part of the Letter of James is the equality of faith. God shows no partiality. He gives everyone the grace of repentance and conversion, the grace of faith. The problem is that we, who have been so gifted freely by God, show partiality how we treat others in the community of faith.

 

If we do this, we are basing our treatment of one another, not on our common gift of faith, but on external human realities. In the case of the people James was addressing the problem was the distinction made between rich and poor. They gave preference to the material rich, the well dressed, the good looking, but looked down on the poor, the marginalized and the less attractive.

 

James reminds us that the way we treat others should be the way God treats us. He did not choose us because we were deserving but all of us were spiritually poor and in need of salvation, which comes through faith in Jesus. We should let the eyes of faith be the lens we use in our treatment of one another.

 

Gospel:

Jesus sees the faith expectation in the request of the people and in the eyes of the man afflicted by deafness and dumbness. Jesus knows he has come to proclaim the message of hope and salvation to a people in darkness. Jesus desired to bring healing and salvation to all, even those outside of the territory of Israel.

 

One of the signs of the new era God would bring, according to Isaiah in the first reading, was the opening of the ears to hear and the mute to speak.

 

Jesus is not about entertaining the crowds by performing a miracle. So he takes the man aside in order for the man to focus on how much God loves him. It is in this one to one encounter with Jesus that will remain riveted in the heart of the man and to which he will return again and again to reflect on.

 

The external signs Jesus use—touching, spittle, words—are sacramental in nature, namely, outward, visible signs of Jesus’ messianic power. At the baptism of a person, we do the same. We say over the ears and mouth as we make the sign of the cross on them: Be open so that you may hear the word of God and proclaim it to others.

 

The miracle is further enhanced because, not only does the man hear for the first time, but he is able to speak a language he has never heard or learned. He communicated clearly.

At the time, the reason Jesus said not to tell anyone is because they would see Jesus only as a miracle worker. Not until his death on the cross and his resurrection will they see him as the Lord and Messiah.

 

Today, we experience the Eucharistic miracle. As a result, we too need to go and proclaim to others the Good News of salvation and the marvelous love of God for us. We need to say: Fear not! Our God has come to save us. This gift is for everyone. Our faith and treatment should be a sign of that reality.

 

“We do not want to curse anyone, we do not want to hold anything against anyone, and we want to be good to everyone.” Blessed Joseph Georg Simon Häfner 

 

When we are mistreated or falsely accused, our human tendency may be to wish the worse on the other. We both suffer. We add our sin to the sin of the other. That’s not the way of a true disciple of Jesus. St. Paul reflected the thought of Jesus, when he wrote, “Bless those who persecute [you], bless and do not curse them.^” (Romans 12:14) The world is not transformed by the “eye for eye” mentality. Only love can break the strongholds of evil, for love endures but evil will eventually fail.

 

 Twenty-Third Sunday Year B

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. 

· Jesus goes to Sidon which is north of Tyre and then east to the Gentile territory on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  In a previous trip to this area he exorcised a demonic man and the people asked Jesus to leave their territory.

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.  

· Symbolically, the man can stand both for the Jews and Gentiles who were deaf to God and his word. Are we at times deaf to God’s word?

· Why do you think he took the man aside away from the crowd? Was it not to draw attention to what Jesus was going to do?

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.  

· What is the symbolism of putting his finger in the man’s ears and saliva on his tongue? What is the symbolism of Jesus looking up to heaven before  saying the words?

· Do you see a connection with baptism?

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.”

· In ordering the people not to say anything about the actual healing, Mark was trying to convey to his readers that Jesus was more than a healer. We must wait until his death and resurrection to fully understand the mystery of Jesus.

· What needs to be opened in our hearts, eyes and minds? What application do we make from this miracle?

"There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle the contests of temptation; and in the end the fullness of perfection." Pope St. Gregory the Great 

 

This is the spiritual journey that we are on. It began for us in Baptism, but we were too young to know. Later, we had a " conversion" experience, when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The full grace of our baptism was released. The reality of sin became clearer to us as we moved on. Not that we no longer sinned, but we saw sin for what it is. We began to deal with our sins, seeking through the Sacraments the grace to move from darkness into light. Without knowing, we were on the road of perfection, which is completed in death and if necessary the purifying fires of purgatory. Keep your eyes on the prize.

 

 

“I calmly do what I can, the rest is done by the Lord, who can do everything. With his help everything is light and smooth, because we serve a good master.”  Blessed Francisco Gárate Aranguren, SJ 

 

Unfortunately, many feel they have to do everything, rather than only what they can. Why? Is to prove themselves? Is it that they don’t trust that God really cares? Whatever the reason their task becomes a burden to accomplish alone. They may feel overwhelmed. They failed to realize they are not starting from scratch, but with something given already by God. He gives us opportunities to serve with him in the perfection of his creation, as an apprentice under the Master. Once we realize this relationship, our task will be easy and our burden light, for all is in his hands, for his purpose.