THE WORD:
Ephphatha – “Be opened!”Isaiah’s vision of a Messiah who would come with hope and healing (today’s first reading) is realized in this episode from Mark’s Gospel: the deaf hear, the silent are given voice, the lame “leap like a stag.” The exhortation Ephphatha! is not only addressed to the man born deaf but to his disciples both then and now who fail to hear and see and speak the presence of God in their very midst.
The Aramaic phrase ephphatha literally means “be released” – Jesus “releases” the man not only from his disability but from his sins, his isolation from the community, his alienation from God.
Jesus’ curing of the deaf man with spittle (which, in Jesus’ time, was considered curative) is an act of re-creation. God’s reign is present in human history in the extraordinary ministry of Jesus. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus insists that his healings be kept quiet in order that his full identity be revealed and understood only in the light of his cross and resurrection.
HOMILY THEMES:
Jesus restores the deaf man’s hearing with the word Ephphatha – “Be opened!” We, too, can bring healing and life to those who need the support, the affirmation, the sense of loving and being loved that the simple act of listening can give.In times of grief, despair and failure, we can be “deaf” to the presence of God in the love and compassion of others; or we can become so preoccupied with the noise and clamor of the marketplace that we are unable to hear the voices of those we love and who love us.
Jesus not just cures the man with a fleeting word but, by his touch, he enters into the grit and grime, the struggle and pain of the man’s life and, in doing so, brings hope and healing to the man.
Listening ‘funny’ . . .
A mother was planning a birthday party for her six-year-old son. She wanted to protect him from the social consequences of inviting Jason, an unpopular child, to the party. Jason stuttered, so he was constantly teased, often cruelly.But Mom realized that her son had to make the decision on his own.
Mom was pleasantly surprised to discover that her son not only could take care of himself but also stick up for his friend.
When other boys at the party started making fun of Jason, her son confronted them, saying: “He doesn't talk funny. You listen funny.”
[Kathleen Chesto.]
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ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. FR. JUDE BOTELHO
We have come to associate the good news of salvation with something that is going to take place in the distant future, as something purely spiritual. But Scripture pictures salvation in more realistic and physical terms. In today's first reading Isaiah reminds the people that God will save them and they will experience tangible signs of his power and loving care for them. The message of the prophet is loud and clear to all who believe in God. We may be living in difficult times, we may be faced with uncertainty. What is God saying to us? His promise is not something for the distant future but will be realized right now. He is coming to save us and He will give us signs of his presence. Are we open to His touch? Can we believe that His hand is there in all that is happening to us today? "Be open!"
She was both deaf and blind
We all know Helen Keller, whose story we read or watched in the play or movie 'The Miracle Worker'. Helen wrote in her autobiography the key experience in her life: "The most important day I remember in all my life is the one in which my teacher, Annie Mansfield Sullivan, came to me. I stretched out my hand as I supposed it to be my mother. But someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in the arms of someone who had come to reveal all things to me, and more than all else to love me." Annie Sullivan did give the child enormous love, but she also gave her firm and, at times, violent discipline. Annie's combination of very tender and warm love and very stern and uncompromising discipline touched this child deeply and made her into a human being and a very great one at that. Even a cynical soul as Mark Twain, who got to know Helen Keller, reckoned her as one of the most interesting figures in the nineteenth century, because she had conquered her own physical limitations to become a beautiful and noble lady.
William Bausch in 'Telling Stories, Compelling Stories'
In today's Gospel we see Jesus dealing with the man who was deaf and dumb and we can receive many insights for our own life from contemplating the scene. Firstly, we are reminded that the man was brought to Jesus by others who implored Jesus to lay his hand on him. There are times when we cannot help ourselves and we need others to bring us to Jesus. When we come across people who are hurting and helpless, we need to bring them to Jesus. Secondly, we are told that the man was deaf and also had an impediment in his speech. We might say that we have no such problem, we can hear well and we have no problem speaking. But have we no problem? Can we really hear? Can we hear what people are trying to say to us? Can we hear what the situation we are in, is saying to us? Can we hear what God is saying to us? In Jesus' response to the man who was brought for healing, we see the compassionate love and care of Jesus for him and for all who need his healing touch. The gospel tells us that Jesus took him aside from the crowd. He deals with him on a personal level on a one-to-one basis. Jesus spends time alone with him, and touches him putting his fingers into his ears and spittle on his tongue. Jesus could have healed him from a distance but he draws close to him and gets involved with him and touches him and looking up to heaven, as if to remind all that His power comes from on high, He says: "Be opened!", and the man was healed and he could hear and speak. He ordered the crowd to tell no one about it because he does not want them to come to him just to witness miracles but to come with faith for the touch of love, the touch of the Master's Hand, that is often felt in hidden, unobtrusive yet loving ways.
The Touch of the Master's Hand
There is a poem by Myra Brook Welch called 'Touch of the Master’s Hand'. In this poem she tells the story of an old dusty violin being auctioned. The violin is about to be sold for a mere $3 when a grey-haired man steps forward, picks it up, dusts it off and begins to play. The man plays such sweet music on the violin that when he finishes, the bidding jumps into thousands of dollars. What changed its value? What transformed the dusty old violin into a precious instrument? -the Touch of the Master's Hand. 'And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin, is auctioned cheap, to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin. But the Master comes and the foolish crowd never can understand the worth of a soul, and the change that's wrought by the Touch of the Master's Hand.'
Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds'
Be very careful of what you speak
A woman went to confession and confessed that she had been gossiping about others. As her penance, the priest told her to go to the market, buy an unplucked hen, and, on her way home, she was to pluck the hen, feather by feather, and let each feather be carried off by the wind. She did that, and returned to the priest. He praised her for her obedience, and he said "Now, there's one more thing to do. I want you to go back along the road, and pick up every feather belonging to that hen." The woman was dumb founded. The task was impossible. By now, the wind had scattered those feathers miles away, out across the country. "Exactly", said the priest. "Now you see what happens as a result of your gossiping. It is impossible to call the words back, once you sent them on their way. Be very very careful what you speak, and especially what you gossip. It is almost impossible to repair the damage."
Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel truth!'
When Jesus enters…
A working man was strongly drawn towards a beautiful vase he saw in a stall down in the town market. He bought the vase and brought it home. The vase was so beautiful that it made his front room look drab, dull, and indeed plain ugly. So he got bright paints and transformed the whole house. He got colourful curtains to match the paint, a brightly patterned carpet, and he even stripped down and varnished the furniture. Because of the beauty of the vase the whole room was transformed. - When Jesus enters my heart, the areas in need of attention become, oh, so obvious. Holiness consists in discovering that I am a much bigger sinner than I ever thought I was! The closer I come to God the more obvious the contrast! When Jesus comes, his touch, his presence makes all the difference!
Jack McArdle in 'More stories for Preachers and Teachers'
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2. SERMONS.COM:
1) "I want to be alone."
We are more alone and less alone these days than ever before. Humans have always lived in communities, in tribes, in families - for protection, for food, for companionship, for love. In the twenty-first century urban living is the norm, with large populations of people gathered around a commercial/communal core. But even as we live lives more closely packed, we are more solitary. Education and economics have made it possible for more people to "make it" on their own. What for centuries had been the culturally and economically determined "norm" - to marry and produce a family in order to survive - is no longer viewed as a necessity. In America, the new norm is singledom. Half of all adults are unmarried, and 15% of those singles live by themselves. In Scandinavia it is estimated that by 2020 half of all "households" will be occupied by only one individual.
But singledom does not mean we are alone...
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That's what still wins people over to Christ. It's the consistent witness we live before them: the kindness and gentility that are consistently evident, the willingness to listen without judging and to help without expecting something in return, the smile that's always there, the warm hug or handshake that we can count on, the friendship that doesn't blow hot and cold, the faith that is evident in good times and other times, as well. We articulate Christ's presence and power most effectively not with eloquent words but rather with a steady, faithful Christian life that others can see and believe in.
Michael B. Brown, Be All That You Can Be, CSS Publishing Company
While the woman learns that the power of faith lies internally, the disciples learn that faith can't be measured by proximity to Jesus. They are right next to the Lord and yet they see the woman as a bother. They don't lead her to Jesus or attempt to heal her daughter, her faith does that. They are too blinded by their social and religious prejudice to offer miracles to anyone.
Jesus words are obviously not meant to cut down the woman (her compassion runs too deep to care if she is insulted). The words of Christ are meant to reprimand the disciples-and us-when our politics and religious agenda blind us to compassion.
Which faith most resembles mine? Am I like the cocksure disciples steeped in religious and cultural prejudice, deeply self-assured of my proximity to Jesus? Or, am I like the outcast woman of Lebanon, indentured by compassion and uncaring of insults if I can just save one soul?
Jerry Goebel, Even the Dogs
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4) Miraculous Healing
Good point, but what I really wanted to know was whether he believed in what we would call miraculous healing, so I asked, "Actually, I wanted to know if you believe in miraculous healing." "Yes," he answered in a matter of fact way, "Why do you ask? Do you want me to stop the surgery?" John Jewell, What About Healing?
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5) The Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumblebee
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up.
Source Unknown
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Staff, www.eSermons.com
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A psychologist friend of mine once developed a personal growth seminar entitled, The Friendship Mirror. It began with an exercise in which you were asked to write down the names of ten people you consider to be friends - people you enjoy being with ... people you like ... people you feel most comfortable relating to. Then he'd ask you to describe them in terms of their age, race, height, weight, education, views, whether they're married or single, with children or not. When you finished, what you found was a striking similarity between the people you like the best and ... are you ready for this? Yourself!
Surprise! We tend to identify most easily with those people who are like us. "Birds of a feather flock together," they say. Which is nothing new, of course, but it's something we do well to be reminded of, from time to time, for to grow up is to grow out and to mature in faith is to widen your circle to include those who don't just mirror your image, but challenge you to think and act in new ways.
Philip W. McLarty, The Boundaries of the Kingdom
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8) Believing in Jesus: Erasing Boundaries
It happened to be Christmas, and on Christmas morning, this missionary went to one of the attics where scores of Jews were staying. He walked in and said, "Merry Christmas." The people looked at him like he was crazy and responded, "We're Jews." "I know that," said the missionary, "What would you like for Christmas?" In utter amazement the Jews responded, "Why we'd like pastries, good pastries like the ones we used to have in Germany." So the missionary went out and used the money for his ticket home to buy pastries for all the Jews he could find staying in the port. Of course, then he had to wire home asking for more money to book his passage back to the States.
As you might expect, his superiors wired back asking what happened to the money they had already sent. He wired that he had used it to buy Christmas pastries for some Jews. His superiors wired back, "Why did you do that? They don't even believe in Jesus." He wired back: "Yes, but I do."
David Reynolds, Crossing Boundaries
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He used to tell of Mrs. O'Leary who would hop on the Fifth Avenue bus on Sunday morning in Manhattan and pass the great churches along that thoroughfare. As the bus would approach each church, she would eye the sign in front with the sermon title and decided, on the basis of what she read, whether to get off the bus and attend that church. Dr. Macleod's constant refrain was, "Pick a title that will make Mrs. O'Leary get off the bus."
How, they said, could there be thin ice when it was so cold. Most of the kids, more because of fear of being punished then fear of the lake, stood on the shore and watched as five of them, three boys and two girls, shouting that the others were “chicken” skated all around the lake and had a grand old time. Then all five of them were for just a moment in the same place and, well . . . You know what happened.
Then one little boy, the worst chicken of all because he was smart, ran into a house and called 911. In ten minutes a police helicopter arrived and lifted the five kids off the ice island.
Do I have to tell you what the cops said to them? Or their parents? Or how long they were grounded from skating?
FROM FR. TONY KADAVIL:
11) “Little monk” who opened blind eyes:
At the Annual National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, 1984, Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States, told the old story of "the little monk," Telemachus, a martyr whose self-sacrificing commitment to Christian ideals opened the blind eyes and deaf ears of the Romans and their fifth century Christian emperor Honorius. According to the story, this Turkish monk was led by an inner voice to go to Rome in order to stop the cruel and inhuman gladiatorial fights between slaves. He followed the crowds to the Coliseum where two gladiators were fighting. He jumped into the arena and tried to stop them, shouting "In the name of Christ, hold back!" The gladiators stopped, but the spectators became indignant. A group of them rushed into the arena and beat Telemachus to death. When the crowd saw the brave little monk lying dead in a pool of blood, they fell silent, leaving the stadium, one by one. Three days later, because of Telemachus' heroic sacrifice of his own life, the Emperor decreed an end to the games. In today's Gospel, which describes the miraculous healing of a deaf mute, we are invited to open our ears and eyes, loosen our tongues and pray for the courage of our Christian convictions to become the voice of the voiceless.
13) "Five past two."
FROM FR. TONY KADAVIL:
11) “Little monk” who opened blind eyes:
At the Annual National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, 1984, Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States, told the old story of "the little monk," Telemachus, a martyr whose self-sacrificing commitment to Christian ideals opened the blind eyes and deaf ears of the Romans and their fifth century Christian emperor Honorius. According to the story, this Turkish monk was led by an inner voice to go to Rome in order to stop the cruel and inhuman gladiatorial fights between slaves. He followed the crowds to the Coliseum where two gladiators were fighting. He jumped into the arena and tried to stop them, shouting "In the name of Christ, hold back!" The gladiators stopped, but the spectators became indignant. A group of them rushed into the arena and beat Telemachus to death. When the crowd saw the brave little monk lying dead in a pool of blood, they fell silent, leaving the stadium, one by one. Three days later, because of Telemachus' heroic sacrifice of his own life, the Emperor decreed an end to the games. In today's Gospel, which describes the miraculous healing of a deaf mute, we are invited to open our ears and eyes, loosen our tongues and pray for the courage of our Christian convictions to become the voice of the voiceless.
12) "The Touch of the Master’s Hand":
In the poem “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” Myra Brooks Welch tells the story of the auctioning of an old dusty violin. The violin was about to be sold for a mere $3 when a grey-haired man stepped forward, picked it up, dusted it off, tuned it and began to play. The man played such sweet music that, when he finished, the bidding jumped into the thousands of dollars. What transformed the dusty old violin into a precious instrument? The touch of the Master’s hand. The same “touch of the Master’s hand” continues to transform our lives today. By God’s touch we become His instruments to accomplish the marvelous works described in today’s Psalm 146: to secure justice for the oppressed, give food to the hungry and set the captives free.
Two older men were talking. One of them was bragging just a little bit. "I just purchased the most expensive hearing aid ever made," he said. "It is imported and is guaranteed for life." The second man asked: "What kind is it?" The first man answered, "Five past two." We can laugh about the hearing loss that comes with aging. It is a minor problem that will affect most of us sooner or later. In fact, experts predict that years of rock music, leaf blowers, and noise pollution in general will result in millions of baby boomers with hearing loss. According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health, there has been a stunning 26 percent increase in those suffering permanent hearing loss between the ages of 35 and 60, compared to 15 years earlier. (With Adam Hanft, Dictionary of the Future (New York, NY: Hyperion, 2001), p. 3. Today’s gospel passage tells us how Jesus healed a deaf man who was mute.
