048 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings

Cycle B 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 35: 4-7; Psalm 146: 6-10; James 2:1-5; Mark 7: 331-37

Homily Theme

Ephphatha be opened

This week, the first reading and the Gospel both speak of healing the deaf and the blind but the second reading speaks to spiritual blindness and deafness. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of God who will open the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf. In the Gospel account Jesus says Ephphatha to the deaf man as he opens his ears in a healing. This is the word I have chosen for our meditation this week. Ephphatha is the Greek form of the Aramaic word which means be opened.

If you and I were blind and could not see and completely deaf and could not hear, wouldn’t we be happy to receive a miracle, to have your eyes and ears opened by the Lord? Imagine how wonderful it would be to see the beauty of God’s creation and to hear voices of loved ones for the first time: also to hear great music or the voice of a loved one for the first time also. We would all want to hear Jesus say Ephphatha as he touched us in a miraculous healing.

Most of us can hear and see and do not require such a miracle but we could be in need of a healing for our spiritual blindness and deafness. The second Reading speaks of a sort of spiritual blindness and deafness when we do not see all God’s creatures: the poor and down trodden, as important as the rich and well dressed. If we have a tendency to seek out the important and wealthy let us ask Jesus to touch us with love and say Ephphatha be opened so we may see everyone and everything as He does.

Millions of our fellow Catholics do not know the truths of our Faith or what the Church teaches and why she teaches it: they are spiritually deaf. Many Catholics pick and choose what they will believe and continue to call themselves Catholic: they are also spiritually blind. It was a Catholic Supreme Court Judge’s vote here in the USA, and a majority vote of Catholics in Ireland changed the Laws that allowed same sex marriage. Why was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by God in the Bible? If you don’t know it you may need to have your eyes and ears opened also.

There are many physically blind and deaf people but there are millions more who are spiritually blind and deaf, who need to hear Jesus say Ephphatha to them also this Sunday. It may be that you and I need to hear it too.

Lord that I may truly see you and truly hear you also.