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Twenty Third Ordinary Sunday


cappie

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In this Sunday's Gospel (Mark 7:31-37), people bring Jesus "a deaf man who had a speech impediment." While his speech impediment may have had a physical cause, it was more than likely his difficulty in speaking was caused by the fact he could not hear. How could he pronounce words that he was unable to hear and to imitate?
 
In the Gospel we are told Jesus "put his finger into the man's ears" and then he touched his tongue. "And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly."
 
Jesus first opens the man's ears and then the man speaks plainly. With good hearing comes good speaking.

Notice how personal and physical the drama is in the Gospel. Our focus is drawn to a hand, a finger, ears, a tongue, spitting. In Jesus, Mark shows us, God has truly come in the flesh.
 
The same thing holds true when it comes to speaking about our Christian faith. As disciples of Jesus we have the responsibility to tell others about Jesus and about the good news of the Gospel. However, we cannot effectively do that unless we ourselves have first heard and understood the words of Jesus and we are not afraid
 
We hear his words as the Gospel is proclaimed at Mass. We hear them explained during the homily. We learn more about their application to our lives through the example of faithful Christians. And we come to a deeper understanding of their meaning through the teaching of the Church. In all these ways Jesus opens our ears so that his words, his teachings, will find a place in our minds and hearts.
 
If that does not happen, then our words about the Gospel will sound false. We will speak with a "speech impediment" that keeps others from accepting the message of Jesus Christ that we are trying to share.
 
If we want our words of faith to be understood by others, we first need to hear and understand them ourselves.
But unfortunately in life, there will be times when we experience fear, or disappointment. These feelings can often lead us to feeling alone and discouraged.   In this Gospel, it is important for us to hear that our God will always remain with us through life’s journeys. We should not be weary and get off of track. Instead we should have courage and know that God will forever be our light at the end of life’s tunnels.

An issue that is often faced in our society is judgment. There are times when people are negatively judged on several things such as their appearance, social class, and race. In the readings of James 2:1-5, the Scripture says  that we should all unite as brothers and sisters of Christ and treat each other equally with respect. The Scripture goes on to say " it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. (James 2:5)

Judgment has affected us all at one point in life. You may have been judged because you didn’t have the trendiest gym shoes, or you may have been on the other side and passed judgment on others because you felt superior while wearing the latest fashion trends. The road may be long and bumpy but with faith and effort we can work hard to eliminate negative and unnecessary judgments every day. In the passage James 2:8 we are reminded that if we can love our neighbours as we love ourselves,” we are doing well.

In this Mass, Jesus will once again perform the miracle of the Eucharist, becoming truly present under the appearances of bread and wine.

As he feeds us with this supernatural food, let's renew our faith in his power and his goodness, and renew our commitment to help build up his everlasting Kingdom. 

 

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