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Homily for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Scriptures for today's Mass)
(Audio for homily)
Sometimes the scriptures
speak of miracles and healings
as if they happen every
day – as if they grow on trees.
But they don’t.
Still, who among us hasn’t
prayed for a miracle?
For the cure of someone
chronically or terminally ill?
For God to intervene in
international affairs
to bring peace to war-torn
lands?
food for the third world?
an end to violence in our
streets?
Who hasn’t prayed this
past week
for the refugees whose
fragile boats are failing to make land
on the shores of freedom?
Does it seem unfair that
the Lord would “tease” us
with promises of safe
passage in Isaiah
and the miracle cure in
the gospel?
Jesus did work many miracles
- but not in every place,
nor for everyone.
The beginning of Mark’s
gospel reports Jesus doing so many miracles
that he couldn’t escape the
crowds following him.
But in this 7th
of Mark’s 16 chapters, Jesus begins to pull back
on working miracles.
In the remaining 9
chapters he performs only 4 more.
His miracles are not ends
in themselves:
all of Jesus’ physical
miracles
are meant to be “signs” of
interior change.
Ultimately Jesus came for
our spiritual healing,
the healing of that within
us that lasts forever.
The physical cures are “signs”
of what he wants to work within us.
In today’s story he opens
the ears and the voice of the deaf mute
as a sign of his desire to
open us,
to open our whole selves
to God.
There is, of course,
nothing wrong in praying for miracles.
But the greater, deeper,
longer-lasting healing of our souls
is truly Jesus’ purpose
and is what’s most deserving of our prayer.
When Jesus takes the deaf
mute aside from the crowd
he touches the man’s ears
and tongue and says,
“Ephphatha!”
“Be opened!”
I doubt there’s even one
person here this morning
who doesn’t have something
closed up within
that needs to be opened.
Perhaps that could be our
prayer today:
to pray for the Lord to
touch each of us and to open
what’s closed up, inside
us.
I invite you to join me in
just such a prayer.
Let us pray…
• Open me to your word,
Lord,
when I’m too busy to
listen for the sound of your voice.
• Open me to live with
loss
when I think I have
nothing left to live for.
• Open my soul to be
patient with others -
as patient as you are with
me.
• Open me to doing your
will
when my own seems so much
easier.
• Open me to walking your
path
when my own way is what I
prefer.
• Open my heart and soften
it
when its hardened by
grudging resentments.
• Open my mind in fairness
and truth
when my thoughts are
unyielding and stubborn.
• Open my wallet to serve
those in need
as well as I care for
myself and my own.
• Open my spirit to the
simplest of joys
with my family and friends
and with you.
• Open my grief to the
touch of your healing
when I’m all closed in on
myself.
• Open my imagination to thoughts
good and pure
and weed out what doesn’t
belong.
• Open my arms to those I’ve
spurned
and help me forgive those
who’ve hurt me.
• Open my eyes to see as
you see
with compassion and
understanding.
• Open my mouth to speak the
just word
when injustice is right in
my face.
• Open my faith to the
wisdom of the ages
and to the Spirit who
moves in my life every day.
• Open up, Lord, anything
within me
that’s closed to you and
your grace.
• Open up, Lord, anything
within me
that’s closed to my neighbor’s
needs.
• Open up, Lord, anything
within me
that’s closed to your mercy
and love.
• Open up, Lord, anything
within me
that’s closed to what you desire
for me.
I count 19 “Ephphathas,”
19 “openings” in that prayer.
They might not be as
dramatic as Jesus healing of the deaf mute –
or, they might be even
more so.
Each of those 19 openings
is there for all of us.
All of us are in need of
some of them,
some of us may be in need
of all of them.
For some of us, even one
or two of these might be a minor miracle!
Those openings are there
for all of us who seek them from the Lord
and do what we can to open
ourselves to his touch and his grace.
The greatest opening of all is what’s
offered for us and to us
in the Bread and Cup of
the Eucharist
where, in the breaking of
the Bread and the sharing of the Cup,
the Lord opens himself to
us in the sacrament of his presence
as he opened himself to us
on the altar of the Cross.
“Ephphatha!”
Open us, Lord, all of us,
to what you share with us
here at your Table.
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