September 27, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 1:59 pm
Twenty-sixth Sunday, Year B, September 27th, 2009
When I meet young, non-practicing Catholic families with a new child to be baptized, it is very easy to terrify them. All I have to do is pull out from my desk one of these (straw). What is it? Only a piece of straw! But to some people, it weighs a ton, because of what it represents.
The baptism ritual asks if the parents fully understand what they are undertaking by promising to raise their child in the Catholic faith. So what this little piece of straw can represent is the obligation to attend Mass every Sunday.
Now, I haven’t done this, but maybe I should. Show them the piece of straw and say, “Are you ready to take on this obligation of coming to Mass every Sunday?” “Every Sunday?” Well, it’s only one hour a week. (As the straw gets closer to being put on their head) “But . . .but . . . we can’t . . . my husband works weekends, the baby is cholicy . . . look, we’ll pay you $500 to do the baptism, just don’t make us worship God on Sunday! (As straw is placed on their head): “Noooo!!!!!”
I have here another straw. This represents volunteering in the Church. I might approach some of you, families and individuals, and ask (lifting up the straw): “Would you be willing to volunteer in the Church?” (Defensive posture) “What kind of volunteering, Father?” “Well, maybe once a year coffee Sunday . . . or a reader or Eucharistic minister . . . the average ministry is probably one hour a month (straw gets closer) “Every month?” (As straw is placed on their head): “Noooo!!!!”
(By the way, next week, (a little late this year), we are holding our annual “Gifts and Services” campaign when we offer the opportunity for people to sign up for various ministries in the Church. They are sheets at either entrance you can take and return next week, and the sheets will be in the pews and collected next week).
Now, before I go on with the third straw, I would like to place this homily in the context of this Sunday’s readings.
Families in our times often feel over-burdened We are so busy and tired, torn and scattered in so many directions, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Sometimes we feel like we’re fighting for survival, just trying to get through the day. So when someone threatens you with another burden (piece of straw), the temptation can be terror and panic (“Noooo!!!!”).
The only solution is the one hinted at in the first reading. In the background to this story, Moses was feeling overburdened caring for the Israelites and dealing with their endless complaints. So the Lord promised to take some of the spirit on Moses and put it on the seventy elders so that they might share with him the burden of the people (Numbers 11:17). This incident teaches us two things: 1) to share our burdens with others and help others carry their burdens and 2) the source of our energy to carry burdens must be the Holy Spirit.
With the energy, dynamism and enthusiasm that comes from the Holy Spirit, burdens are lightened and we find the time to worship God on Sunday, the grace to serve each other in the Church and even the strength to help change society.
What is the real burden that weighs us down, that makes people feel they have no time or energy for God and others? I remember one day when I was visiting the Agape mission in El Salvador. At the door of the mission motel, Don Manuel took my suitcase but I warned him, “pesa” (it weighs; it’s heavy), but he grabbed it and said, “nuestros pecados pesa mas” (our sins weigh more). He was an uneducated, ordinary man, but a man of great faith, who attended Mass every Sunday and charismatic meetings on top of that. He’s right – our sins weigh more; they are the real burdens that weigh us down.
That’s why Jesus, in the Gospel, instructs us to cut off from our lives anything that causes us to sin: if your hand or foot causes you to stumble – to sin – cut it off (Mark 9:43,45). If something (or even someone) causes you to sin, then cut it out of your life completely. Just as, if some food causes in you an allergic reaction, you cut it out of your diet, so too you must cut out from your life the sin that sickens the soul and burdens the spirit.
In the first reading, Moses said, “would that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). That’s what happened when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. That’s what happened to all of us in our baptism and confirmation. We already possess the Holy Spirit, but His movement in our lives can be shackled by sin. Only by repentance, conversion and faith can His energy be released in us, giving us renewed strength not only to carry the normal burdens of every day life, but also to do extraordinary things with His help.
Perhaps now it’s time to show you the third straw. This one represents the obligation to help change society. (“Noooo!!!!”) You want us to attend Mass every Sunday, volunteer in the Church once a month, and help change society! Who do you think we are – Christians?! Do you think we’ve received some superhuman, supernatural power from God? Well, yes. You have all received the Holy Spirit. You are all prophets, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart,” Christians called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, to transform our culture of death into a new culture of life.
I’m always impressed at how certain causes can mobilize people. Has anyone heard of the movie “The Cove”? It is an award-winning documentary that was playing in Ottawa in early September. It’s about a cove in Japan where pods migrating bottle-nose dolphins are captured in nets by fishermen, a few to be sold to aquariums, but the majority are mercilessly butchered for school lunch meat – 23, 000 every year. One of the producers of the film said “if the dolphins can’t speak for themselves, then it’s up to people to speak for them in their hour of need.”
A group of crusading film-makers needed the help of free-divers for the secret, underwater filming – people who can dive 100 metres on a single breath. They found two in Vancouver who were willing to fly all the way to Japan and risk imprisonment if caught, because they believed in the cause and they wanted to do their part to help save the dolphins.
People are mobilized by a vision, by a cause they can believe in, inspired by The Holy Spirit! We have noble causes in our own backyard. For example, next Sunday is the annual Life Chain. From 2-3pm, people throughout the country witness to the sanctity of human life through a one-hour public witness (here in Russell at the corner of Concession and Craig).
The 40 days for life campaign, that has already saved the lives of 1,561 unborn children, started on Wednesday. You can sign up for one hour of witness (in the foyer) and you will be accompanied by another person – nothing to be afraid of!
You don’t have to fly all the way to Japan – with grueling 20 hour flights – and risk your neck to help save the dolphins. You can help save human lives by spending an hour in downtown Ottawa for the 40 days for life, or an hour at the corner of Castor and Concession for the Life Chain.
The third straw is a simple request of each of you to help change society, to dedicate 2-3 hours of your time per year to the civil rights movement of the 21st century, to pro-life, to stand up and defend the right to life of the unborn and the sick and elderly.
Bill C-384 will be presented again to Parliament this month, a bill proposing the legalization of euthanasia – to allow society to murder the sick or the elderly (who are such a “burden” to us, according to the sick logic of the culture of death). We must pray and work for the defeat of this bill; otherwise, we allow the culture of death to coil its slimy body even tighter around our necks. Our MP Pierre Lemieux is a true Catholic and %100 pro-life. But it still helps to call him or write to him and express your views and encourage him to continue to fight for life on Parliament Hill.
I will end with this: I highly recommend this latest pamphlet by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family entitled “Families: Let’s Build a Better World Together” on the call of families to help change society (free copies at either entrance). As the authors write in the introduction, we will never build a culture of life “as long as we choose silence, excuses, discouragement and fear” (1), and they quote Edmund Burke who wrote: “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing” (11). Therefore “a mobilization is needed. It is up to families to get together and develop a culture and legislation that benefit the family and reflect their true needs” (3). The Pope even recommends that families “form associations that promote the identity and rights of the family” (3), which makes me think of the Archconfraternity of the Holy Family. Would you like to learn more about this Archconfraternity? Then let’s discuss it some day after Mass because I’ve just run out of time!
Catholic families of the world, unite! Rise up! Do not be afraid! Let your voices be heard! Remember Christ conquered the world beginning with 12 “uneducated, ordinary” men, as they are called in the Acts of the Apostles (4:13). Ordinary men from ordinary families who did extraordinary things through the power of the Holy Spirit, that lightens our burdens, that energizes us to worship God on Sundays, to serve each other in the Church, and to transform the world.
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September 20, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
25th Sunday, Year B, September 20th, 2009
Do you think I can use science to prove that Jesus is in the tabernacle? OK, I admit I can’t use science strictly speaking, but I can use reason and logic to make a very good argument. One reason people do not know and love Jesus, nor live as He taught, is that we allow water-logged thinking (arguments with large holes) to make a shipwreck of our faith (1Tim 1:19).
I would like to make a three-part argument to lead us back to the basics, so that we will listen again to Jesus in today’s Gospel, and learn from his words and example, teaching us humility – to be like a little child, and service – to be the last of all and servant of all (Mark 9:35-6)
1) The Bible is accurate and true
2) Jesus is God
3) Jesus is here
We read something in the newspaper or some wildly fictitious religious novel or see something on the Discovery channel that leads us to doubt the truth and accuracy of the Bible, “leaving us with the impression that we have very little certain knowledge of Jesus.” This last phrase is a quote from Pope Benedict and his book Jesus of Nazareth (xii). He adds, “intimate friendship with Jesus . . . is in danger of clutching at thin air” (xii) if the Bible is not reliable.
Some people think, “well, the Bible as we have it today was copied and re-copied so many times, how can we be sure that the Gospel of Mark as we have it today is the same one Mark wrote 2000 years ago?” My friends, this is water-logged thinking that can make a shipwreck of our faith. Let us look at the scientific facts. We have about 5,000 manuscripts in the world containing all or parts of the New Testament. If changes had been introduced in the transmission of the Bible over the centuries, then these multiple manuscripts would contradict each other and tell different stories. But the fact is, they agree 99.5% of the time. Scientific proof that St. Mark’s Gospel that we read in Church today is the same one that Mark wrote. Proof that the Bible as we have it today is accurate.
But how do we know that what Mark and Paul wrote is really true? Maybe Jesus wasn’t God and didn’t rise from the dead, but they invented this story to make people believe and follow their religion. How do we know Jesus is God and what Paul wrote and what the Church teaches is true? Martyrdom, for one thing. Perhaps the best argument is martyrdom. You can imagine the Roman executioner holding the sword to St. Paul’s neck, saying, “Paul, just admit that you and the other disciples made it up, and we’ll let you live. Just admit that Jesus isn’t God and that He didn’t rise from the dead, that you made it all up, and we’ll let you go.” The Iroquois natives could have said the same thing to St. Jean de Brebeuf and the Canadian martyrs. People don’t die for myths and legends. They die for the truth. Jesus is God.
To recap: 1) The Bible is accurate and true, 2) Jesus is God, and 3) Jesus is here, in the tabernacle. Here’s another example of water-logged thinking. We know, at the Last Supper, Jesus took bread and said, “this is my Body,” and wine and said “This is my Blood. Do this in memory of me.” Now maybe the disciples truly received His Body and Blood, but for us, 2000 years later, it’s mainly a ritual in memory of Jesus. He is present in our hearts and minds when we remember Him. Right? Does it make sense to think that just by repeating a ritual, Jesus will be present Body and Blood in the bread and wine? Does that make sense to you?
In a worldly, water-logged way of thinking, no, it doesn’t make sense. But it is perfectly logical if we go back to the basics: the Bible is true and accurate; Jesus is God.
What does the whole Bible say, the Bible that we know is accurate and true? We must read the Last Supper narratives in the light of what came first – the preaching of Jesus on the Eucharist in John 6. Imagine you were there that day, with the disciples, in the synagogue at Capernaum, listening to Jesus deliver his homily on the Eucharist, when He says, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life.” Remember, these are the words of the Son of God. The disciples believed this, and remembered His words, pondered them, studied them, discussed them. Obviously, Jesus was speaking to all people of all time, not just the people who happened to be in the synagogue in Capernaum that day: “just you 185 people can eat my Flesh and drink my Blood to have eternal life, but the people in neighboring Bethsaida are doomed to hell.” These words are meant for all people of all time.
From that day forward, the disciples were watching Jesus wondering how and when He was going to give them His flesh and blood to eat and drink, so that they could have eternal life. Finally, His last night on earth came and Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper: “this is my Body, this is my Blood.” Here was their answer. And Jesus did not intend to give Himself in His Body and Blood only once to twelve men. He planned, from all eternity, to give Himself to the world in His Body and Blood, so that all people could have eternal life.
This is perfectly logical, water-tight thinking. How else were the disciples in back in Capernaum to eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of the Son of Man, which Jesus said they must do in order to have eternal life? Jesus has died and gone to heaven, how are they going to receive His Body and Blood? Because Jesus is God, and from all eternity, He had planned to give Himself to His people every time the Last Supper ritual is performed in His memory. From all eternity, He planned to remain on earth, truly present but hidden, in the Eucharist, in the tabernacle.
So, using a bit of logic, we can show that the Bible is accurate and true, Jesus is God, and Jesus is here. So, have I run out of time? Did you hear of this evangelical “rock star” preacher named Rob Bell? He was in Ottawa on Thursday to deliver a 2-hour sermon, and people paid $20 to go and see him? And Catholic homilies are much shorter and free! I’ll say a few words about today’s Gospel! (Sometimes we Catholics need to get back to basics and do some “remedial” work before we can truly listen to Jesus in the Gospel and learn from Him).
As always, Jesus gives us a model of how to live our lives: to be humble like a little child (Mk 9:36), and to be the last of all and the servant of all (Mk 9:35). We need this lesson! Consider all the conflicts and disputes among us, in marriages, families and other relationships. As St. James asks in the second reading, “where do these conflicts come from? From our disordered desires that are at war within us” (James 4:1), from our pride that insists on getting its own way. Who can save us from these conflicts and disputes? Jesus who became the last of all and the servant of all. Only by modeling our lives on Jesus can we have peace in our relationships.
Jesus is here! But unless we believe this with a deep faith, I don’t think we will become intimate friends of Jesus, nor find the grace to change our lives. Jesus is here in the tabernacle teaching us a lesson in humanity, in humility and service. He was the last of all and the servant of all not only for 33 years on earth, but He also remains so for all eternity. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8). Here in the tabernacle and in the glory of heaven, Jesus, in his human and divine nature, continues to humble Himself before the Father and before us, to humble Himself like a servant or slave, taking on not only our human nature, but in the Eucharist, the appearance of bread.
Let us pray for a little bit more logic in our beliefs, to seal up the holes in our water-logged thinking, and for the gift of a lot more faith. My brothers and sisters, if only we had more faith that Jesus is here! It would open up for us a whole new universe of experience of God. One moment of enlightenment, like the sun breaking through the clouds, could change our lives forever. Let us pray for great faith – the faith of martyrs. Why not pray the novena to the Canadian martyrs for the gift of great faith? We can say the prayers together after communion, and you can take the bulletin home and pray them daily at home (don’t worry if you missed Friday and Saturday; God will always reward even a 7-day “novena”).
Remember that the Canadian martyrs are “Canadian” – they belong to us as Canadians. They died for Jesus and the Church in Canada. From their place in heaven, they watch over us still. They love us and pray for us. Let us benefit from their intercession to grow in our confidence in the truths that they took for granted: the Bible is accurate and true; Jesus is God; Jesus is here. May they help us grow in our intimacy with Jesus, to follow his example of humble, loving service, so that our lives and relationships can be transformed.
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September 13, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 7:58 pm
Twenty-fourth Sunday, Year B, September 13th, 2009
(Pull out a sword). The great battle was fought 250 years ago today, a defining event in Canadian history, but in our politically correct culture, September 13th, 1759 is a date that dare not speak its name, which is unfortunate, because this date should be a celebration of Divine Providence that ensured the preservation of the French language and the Catholic religion in Canada.
It was the battle on the plains of Abraham outside of Quebec City, when the English under General Wolfe defeated the French under Montcalm, signaling British victory over the French in North America. A re-enactment had been planned on this day, but it was cancelled because of bureaucratic political correctness.
This homily is not a history lesson, so I only briefly mention that if the French had won that battle, they may have eventually lost their language and religion. How? The Americans. It was only the strength of the British and French united that defeated the Americans, who later attacked Canada twice in the span of 40 years, and in their dreams of empire in North America were much less tolerant than the British of the French having a different religion. The defeat of the French by the British on September 13th, 1759 is one reason we are Canadian today – French and English – and not American. Too bad that political correctness is too blind to appreciate Divine Providence.
Back to the homily. In the French version of our national anthem, much more poetic and inspiring than the English version, we sing: “car ton bras sait porter l’epee. Il sait porter la croix.” Even Anglophones know what this means: “O Canada: your arm knows how to carry the sword. It knows how to carry the Cross.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells all those who wish to follow Him that they must deny themselves, take up the Cross, and follow Him (Mark 8:34). For centuries, that is what the French Catholic heroes of our country did. On the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit to Canada in September 1984, we recall some of his words to our country. In speaking of Canadian missionaries and saints, he said: “ I pay homage to the faith and love that motivated them, and to the power of the Cross that gave them strength” (Homily, September 14th).
And in Hull on September 19th, he thanked the Servantes de Jesus-Marie for bearing witness that “la marche vers la saintete est la plus belle des aventures (the walk/march toward holiness is the most beautiful adventure).
“Ton histoire est un epopee des plus brillants exploits.” “Your history is an epic of brilliant exploits.” This is literally true when speaking of the pantheon of French Catholic saints that Canada has produced over the generations: from the Canadian martyrs, to St. Marguerite d’Youville to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (a Mohawk “Indian”), whose tomb and shrine we visited on our parish pilgrimage on August 28th.
I won’t say much about the Canadian Jesuit martyrs this year, except that we have a special Mass on their feast day on Saturday, September 26th at 9:00 a.m., and I invite you to pray the novena beginning next Friday. On our vocations conference last week in Sudbury, we were at a Jesuit retreat centre with our Jesuit bishop talking a bit about the Jesuit martyrs. (By the way, we have a great bishop and we must continue to support him and pray for him).
While the rest of us sat by a bonfire on Wednesday night after our meetings, roasting marshmellows, and relaxing, we realized that we still have a long way to go in following the heroic virtue of the martyrs and saints, in joyfully denying our selfishness, to take up our cross (and sword) to follow Jesus. Remember, Jesus himself said that He came not bring a false peace, but a sword (Mt 10:34). We are called to be “good soldiers” of Jesus Christ ( 2 Tim 2:3), for the weak person to say, “I am a warrior” (Joel 4:10).
In Canada, there is no longer a real war between French and English (except skirmishes concocted by politicians in the Russell/Embrun area), but there is a very real culture war between the culture of life and the culture of death, between Catholic Christianity in particular and atheistic humanism. What some radical British Protestants could not accomplish with the sword in 18th century Canada – the destruction of the Catholic religion – was nearly accomplished in the 20th century – and on-going – by secularism, materialism, relativism, the Quiet Revolution, the sexual revolution.
It is not easy to be a Christian in today’s world, especially a devout, practicing Catholic. You need sanctity, along with the Cross and sword: the Cross of patience and perseverance in suffering, the sword of heroic virtue. Some people say, “Well, I’m not going to be a saint. That’s for priests and nuns.” Really? Admittedly, the Canadian martyrs were priests, but not Blessed Kateri or Marguerite d’Youville who was married with 2 children. Others say, “Well, being a saint is for old people getting ready to die.” Really? Blessed Kateri was well on her way to sanctity as a teenager. She radiated purity of body and soul, in a culture of sexual permissiveness and promiscuity. She died and was glorified at the age of 24.
It is never easy to be a Catholic and to be holy, but it is always possible.
Consider Marguerite d’Youville in the 18th century. For seven long years, she carried her cross through the trials of a very unhappy marriage, to an indifferent husband was always away on long business trips of the illegal liquor trade with the native Canadians. Marguerite is a beautiful example of heroic virtue in the sacrament of marriage, and of invincible trust in Divine Providence.
After her husband died and she dedicated her life totally to God and the service of the poor, she also lived through the disaster of the English defeat of the French in 1759 — the loss of her king, her country, and the fear of the Catholic religion being outlawed. But through it all, she and her sisters showed their faith by their works (James 2:18); they carried the sword of the Word of God (Eph 6:17) and heroic virtue in caring for the wounded soldiers of the war, both French and English with equal charity. And through it all, she accepted her share in the Cross of Jesus and trusted in Divine Providence.
Consider Kateri Tekakwitha in the 17th century. Once she converted to Catholicism in the largely pagan environment of her Mohawk village in upstate New York, the shadow of the Cross and persecution fell upon her. Her parents had died when she was young, so she was living with her extended family of pagan unbelievers.
Her aunts persecuted her for refusing to work on Sunday. For them, Sunday was a day like any other, so they went out into the cornfields to work. They accused Kateri of laziness and told her that if she was not willing to work on Sunday, then she would have nothing to eat. Kateri accepted this rather than break the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. For Kateri, faithfulness to Christ included faithfulness to the Lord’s Day, to Sunday as a day of worship and rest. It was not easy for her to be a Catholic and be holy, but she did it, and so can we.
I mention this example in particular because it relates to our parish theme for this pastoral year: Sunday as a day for God and family. In the culture wars of the 21st century, we need to carry our Cross and sword, to be willing to fight for our religion, to fight for a space for God in our lives, against the forces of secularism, workaholism, and excess of entertainment and sports and so on that threaten to keep people from the true and lasting peace that God wants to give us when we gather for public worship in Church and carry that spirit into our homes on the Lord’s Day.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, as we begin a new pastoral year and school year, let us praise Divine Providence who has guided our country and safeguarded our faith. And let us look to the great beginnings of the faith in Canada in our Canadian martyrs and missionaries, and all the inspiring examples of the saints who carried their cross and sword in living, defending, and spreading the Catholic faith, the Church founded by Christ to lead all men and women to peace, happiness and salvation.
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September 6, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 06, 2009
We hear in today’s first reading, “Be strong, do not fear!”. However, we can well imagine that the man who was deaf, if he wasn’t actually afraid, must have at least been somewhat bewildered at what was happening to him. Not being able to hear, and almost certainly being illiterate, his friends would have had no way to really communicate to him what they were up to. When Jesus healed someone who was blind, or lame, or a leper, that person at least had some idea of what was going on. But this man – he had to really trust in those friends. Did they even realize just what they were doing? Now, Mark is quite specific in telling us where this takes place, “in the region of Decapolis”. There’s good reason for telling us, because this area was predominantly pagan. It also was not a place that respectable Jews were likely to be found. And yet, this group of what would be considered unbelievers had obviously heard about Jesus. They had faith in His ability to help their friend, and enough courage to approach Jesus on his behalf. They pleaded for Jesus to help; the Greek word used is parakaleô, which is where we get the word Paraclete from, one term for the Holy Spirit. They were advocates for their friend. We know that, because of their efforts, the deaf man was healed. We can assume that the people did not expect such a radical result, such a complete healing, as the Gospel tells us “they were astounded beyond measure”. And, of course, despite Jesus’ orders, they just can’t keep from telling everyone they see about what has happened.
How about us – what do we do in response to the miracles Jesus works in our lives? I’m sure we all recognize certain things that happen, some very minor, some major, that we know are examples of God’s handiwork. We may say a quick prayer of thanksgiving, but unlike those who witnessed the deaf man’s healing, we may be reluctant to give God credit when speaking with our friends or acquaintances. You know, we wouldn’t want to seem like some kind of religious nuts, would we?
Not long before Faith and I were married, one of her aunts and a cousin were killed in the crash of a small plane. Another of her cousins was living down south at the time, didn’t have a car, and had very little money. We weren’t sure how she and her family were going to be able to come up for the funeral. The next day, though, that cousin and her family arrived, driving a relatively new car. When asked how she was able to manage this, she simply said “God gave us a car”. Now, although I didn’t say it out loud, my first reaction was: “yeah, sure, people loaned you a car and money; God didn’t give you a car.” But you know, I was wrong, and she was right. Through others, God had provided for her, and she was not ashamed to give Him credit for it, no matter what others may have thought. And I’m ashamed for not having seen that.
Jesus may have asked people who witnessed or benefitted from some of His miracles to not tell anyone about them. But He doesn’t ask that of us. We should be astounded at all the things God does for us. And we should be happy to admit that our blessings come from Him. When we let people know that we recognize that something in our lives is due to God’s work, we aren’t just expressing our gratitude, we may also be giving those people a little nudge moving them forward in their own belief.
This can happen not just in words, but by our example, by living our faith. We can be good friends, like those of the deaf man, and help bring people a step closer to Jesus. We might even invite them to look into becoming Catholic by joining the RCIA program, which will be starting up again in a few weeks.
Jesus performed miracles, He healed people, raised people from the dead, even fed the multitude with a few loaves and a couple of fish. However, His mission was not to heal people, but to save all of us. Physical healing is secondary to our spiritual healing, the salvation of our souls for eternity. Pope John Paul II said of Jesus and the deaf man: “He (Jesus) offers him (the deaf man) the extraordinary opportunity to meet God who is love and who allows Himself to be known by those who love. He offers him salvation.” And He offers that to everyone – it’s our responsibility to take Him up on that offer, and to let others know about it, too.
The last thing we hear about the deaf man in the Gospel is that he began to speak plainly. Although we aren’t told, we can be pretty sure that he was extremely grateful to Jesus, and also grateful to his friends for having brought him to see Jesus. We, too can reach out and help those who are suffering, or those who are searching, and help them to know the love of Christ. What greater gift could we give to those we care about than helping them come closer to Jesus? That’s a gift they will be grateful for, for all eternity.
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