23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 8, 2024

The need for healing; the need to be healers

Mark 7: 31–37

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

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. 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.

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.”

Music Meditations

• Healer of My Soul—John Michael Talbot
• Open my Eyes, Lord
• Shepherd Me, O God

Opening Prayer

Deep inside myself, Lord, I can be both deaf and dumb. Help me to “be opened” the your words and to the needs of others, Help me to speak out on behalf of those who cannot do so for themselves. I also need to thank you for the body you have given to me, whether it is perfect or very imperfect, whether it is old or young, whether it is healthy or sick. Help me to be grateful for the time I have had in this body, and help me to navigate the challenges this body may afford me at some point in my life, now or later.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from Lovely in Eyes Not His: Homilies for an Imaging of Christ, by Walter Burghardt, S.J. (part of a homily on Mark 7:31-37 for the opening of the school year):

This God we celebrate today operates somewhat as Jesus did in the gospel. All of us are slightly or dreadfully deaf; speak with some impediment; we don’t listen as we ought to man, woman, or God; we stammer and stutter to communicate, with man or woman, or God. We need the spirit of Jesus to touch our ears and our tongues, our eyes and minds, our hearts and hands, to command our flesh and spirit: ”Be opened!”. Open not only to what we like, love, agree with; not only what looks good, sounds good, smells good, tastes good, feels good. Open as well to the new and the strange, the painful and the perilous. Open therefore, to ideas that challenge or affright, teachers who rouse or drowse, people who attract or repel. Open to ways of living alien to us, life situations that millions on this planet are challenged by this very moment – from the shivering homeless on the warm grates of the city where they can find them, from those living on El Camino in cars and campers because their families have no place to live, to those refugees fleeing violence, repression and grinding poverty in places like Afghanistan and right here in our own hemisphere. Open to a God who no longer exists in your space to solve your problems for you; rather a God who shed that glory that was His to wear your flesh, share your sweat, bleed your blood, a God who never forsakes you however faithless you be, pursues you however far you flee, promises you on the earth a dignity and a delight beyond your wildest dreams: nothing less than to be God’s daughter, God’s son.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Ephphatha! Be opened!

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

The symptoms of physical deafness are obvious. What are some of the symptoms of being spiritually deaf? In the gospels, illness is usually a sign of alienation of some sort, and when Jesus heals someone, He brings them back into community. What sorts of illnesses in our present day alienate people from the rest of us? How does our culture deal with illness? Have people sometimes been blamed for their illnesses? (Think of AIDS, lung cancer, or heart problems which people attribute to lifestyle choices) Have people been sort of ostracized for mental illness which has behavioral implications that are hard for others to deal with? When you have been ill, have you ever felt that you inhabited a place where no one else was, either because you were contagious, (flu) in terrible discomfort which made it hard to interact with others, or because the seriousness of the illness itself catapulted you into a realm of dire choices? Have you ever, in your life, in your workplace, in your personal relationships, felt as if you were rendered mute? Why was that? How did you deal (or how are you currently dealing) with the enforced silencing? As a church, (and WE are church, folks) whom do we not hear? Do I feel my church hears me? As a church, whose need for healing do we ignore? Where do we as a church bring others into reconciliation with us? From Orchard Church: How does Jesus meet the deaf man where he is? How dies Jesus meet you where you are? How can you be a friend who brings people to Jesus? Do you trust that Jesus does all things well? How are you showing that trust right now? Where are we called to play Christ the Healer? Where do I need healing? Am I deaf to what God is speaking to me? In what parts of my life am I deaf to the needs of someone else? Do we sometimes expect God to be a miracle worker, to solve all of our problems? What exactly, is God's role in our lives? Jesus told people not to tell others about his curing of the deaf man—probably so people would not follow him for the wrong reasons. To what extent is our culture drawn to those who seem larger than life? What is the danger in this?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Psalm 38 (excerpts) But I am like the deaf who cannot hear, like the mute, I cannot open my mouth. I am like the one who hears nothing, in whose mouth is no defense. I count on you O, Lord, it is you who will answer. I pray: ”Do not let them mock me, those who would triumph if my food should slip.” For I am at the point of falling, and my pain is always before me. My God, do not stay far off! Make haste and come to my help, O Lord, my God and Savior

Serious illness, and especially a terminal illness can separate the sick person from those around her. Perhaps friends and family members do not want to be infected. Others do not want to think about the suffering of another for too long; it reminds them of their own mortality. This psalm captures very well the sense of isolation that comes from illness; isolation that can lead to depression and hopelessness. The psalmist asserts that healing, either in body or spirit, only comes from God. Has there been a time in your life when you needed God’s healing? Did you ask for it?

Pray to God for the confidence to trust in the Spirit’s healing powers.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

I imagine that I am deaf and also cannot be understood because my speech is impaired. How isolating it is to be with others and not be able to hear what they are saying or to respond. People all around me are sharing their lives with each other, and I am on the fringes, ignored or forgotten. I feel so alone. Others might wonder if I did something to offend God and therefore have brought this catastrophe on myself. There are few jobs I can do, because of the communication problem, so I must rely on the good will of my family and friends to take care of me. It is humiliating. But people do try, and they are so kind.

My friends bring me to see this itinerant preacher and “wonder worker”, asking for him to do something for me. This man takes me aside and does some strange things, but all his actions are in private, so I am not on display for others to see and comment out of scorn or genuine pity. First he puts his finger into my ears, then spits on that same finger and puts it on my tongue. I am at first repulsed, but I see his concern and his kindness. I feel that soft touch, those healing fingers. He cares. When he groans and looks at heaven, he then commands my ears to be opened. And they are! My speech impairment is gone and I am restored to my community of loved ones! Before I had life, but was not really living. Now I live fully in the joy of my return to the community. I think this man’s touch was more than magic: it was a healing and restoring of relationships I need to thrive. Through him I have learned that God is all about compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation and unselfish love. No one will remember my name, but we will all remember his because through him “the mighty God has done great things for me”, and for the world. A lesson for the ages.

I ask myself if I have even been deaf to the calls of Jesus to me, who wants to heal, and save. Have I ever remained dumb instead of witnessing to the Good News? I remind myself that I am called to be Christ on earth, acting in His name in my own time and space. I ask myself if there is anyone in my life who is isolated and needs a helping hand, or simple some sign of connection. I pray for a those who have no one to pray for them.

I resolve to look at each day (daily examen) and ask myself how I became Christ for another today…..

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

There are several lessons for us in this story. First and foremost, the deaf man himself did not ask to be cured. He was brought to Jesus by some caring friends. Is there anyone in my life right now who could do with some intervention on his or her behalf? Do I really see or hear the pain in another’s life ? How can I be more attentive to what people are NOT saying? Can I make even a small effort to help someone out? Notice also that Jesus drew the man away from onlookers, so that he and the man could have some privacy for what was a very graphic and intimate experience. When I see someone hurting, do I take him or her aside and try to help while reserving that person’s dignity and privacy? Am I willing, then, to keep it all a secret, or do I slyly reveal what I have done to others??

Poetic Reflection:

What sort of healing does Father Ingebretsen speak of in the following poem?. Have you ever felt this way?

"Like a Stone"

I wait like a stone and the waters have no answer; though I must be carried over mountains through deserts and fear though I must drop through ceilings still the freedom of the Lord will find me waiting on the movement of His spirit. And those waters stir silently: they bring to breath long wishes and desires that have lain stagnant by this pool. Move me, Lord, as the moon does the sea; I ebb, I flow, I sink and fill in response only to you. I wait like a stone: touch me and even this stone shall have voice, shall sing.

—Ed Ingebretsen, S.J., from Psalms of the Still Country

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord, you have given me this beautiful body to glorify your creative powers. Help me to use it wisely and to hold it sacred. Teach me to continue to give thanks when I am sick or in pain, remembering that that is part of the gift as well. Please be present and walk with those suffering illness at this time.