Mass readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Isaiah 35.4-7 Psalm 146.6-10 James 2.1-5 Mark 7.31-37
I believe we all know and understand that when Jesus performs a miracle it is to be understood on more than one level: there is the plain meaning of his action, but a significance that goes beyond that. When he feeds five thousand people, we know that there is a deeper meaning to that act than his simply providing lunch – we understand from that particular miracle that Christ spiritually feeds us today, the multitude of believers. And in today’s gospel we have a man who is deaf and whose speech is constrained by some sort of impediment. Jesus restores his hearing and his speech, but that communicates so much more to us than an example of his divine power to heal. Jesus can do this for us, he can help us hear and speak; and this applies to those who aren’t physically deaf or mute. Indeed, if someone is by accident or birth, deaf, the power of Christ to bring that person to “hearing” isn’t a matter of being able to listen to birds singing, but rather it’s a matter of being able to hear God.
And I’d remind you of what the great Cardinal Sarah said, “Silence is God’s first language… all else is just translation.” So, as beautiful as the music may be at a mass, that’s a translation of the divine silence, and it’s to that silence we’re being called to listen.
Equally so, when we reflect on the restoration of speech, it is so that our mouths and lips might be used worthily. When I get a child in the confessional who confesses to using “bad words” we discuss what the sin is in that. And the problem with swearing is, in part, that we misuse the gift of speech to utter filth – that’s unworthy of God. He gave us our speech for something far better.
The Church’s understanding of this is really well reflected in our baptism rites. After someone is baptized, be that as a baby or a fully grown adult, there is the “Ephphatha Rite” wherein priests touch the ears and the lips of the newly baptized and say, “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, grant that you may receive his word with your ears and profess the faith with your lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father.”
Baptism washes away original sin, restores us to newness in God’s eyes, but we are to employ this restored body of ours in growing close to him, to use our faculties of hearing and speaking to that end. But I’m sure we’re all aware of the degree, greater or lesser, to which we don’t do this.
This past week was the priests’ seminar, the annual three-day gathering of the presbyterate of the diocese with our bishops, Crosby and Lobsinger, as well as some esteemed guests who do special presentations.
This conference was held in Alliston, Ontario. That’s about a 90-minute drive via the major highways; but I took the backroads, so to speak, adding on an extra 20 minutes driving time, because I wanted to go by the cemetery in Norval. My grandparents are buried there, and I wanted to make a visit. Well, that made it a long trip for me, and I found myself turning on the car radio. I’ve got to tell you, most of it really was just a lot of noise. Most popular music, of my youth that you find on most of the stations, and what young people are listening to, is pretty adolescent in its themes – but that’s not really what was bothersome. It was the whole way it was put together, with the news breaks, the commercials, the patter among the radio personalities who share trivia and tell dirty jokes (indeed, I could not believe how vulgar the humour was on one station; it all struck me as being designed for an audience presumed to be morons; a population that hadn’t matured any since middle school. So, I found myself shutting the radio off for most of the drive.
God gave us ears with which to hear, to listen with, a tremendous gift, and so many of us fill it with noise. We should attune our ears to him, first and foremost; but then progress from that to listening to the world around us so as to discern in what we hear, the faithful translation of God’s silent speech or its deceptive distortion into the lies of the devil.
But as any of our musicians here know, the ear must be trained, and it’s best trained by exposure to what is good, and beautiful. Pour into the ears truth and one comes to hear through the noise and listen with focus to what God has to say.
So, too does it help us with exercise of our lips, our mouths, as means of giving voice to the thoughts of our hearts; to offer praise, to proclaim truth, to warn others of approaching dangers. But the stuff of speech is provided by what language we take in; by what we listen to, by what we hear.
So many Christians are hesitant to speak about God, and share the good news. And much of that comes of being unsure of what the faith teaches, what our Apostolic tradition says to believers, what teaching the Church has been listening to and absorbing for two thousand years.
Our own patron, St. Augustine, in his commentary on our gospel today was puzzled by Jesus’ command that those witnessing this miracle should keep quiet – he mused that it was to embarrass us. Look how someone he forbade to proclaim him, in this instance, cannot be obedient and goes about telling everyone about his encounter with our Lord; yet how many of us commanded to evangelize keep quiet!
Recent surveys of the church, including this diocese have revealed a big reason for this; and we looked at some of that data at the priests gathering, tell us that people are silent, hold back, because they feel they don’t know the faith, that they really haven’t had the chance to listen to her teaching, or speak about faith in conversation with fellow believers and gain confidence in expressing the good news. The question that hung in the air during table discussions among the pastors was, if we gave people the opportunity, would they come to listen and learn, speak and share. Will people go to diocesan programs and events? Will the ostensibly faithful, consider a program offered in a sister parish? At St. Ann’s in Ancaster, St. Thomas in Waterdown? Will we go to what is offered in our own parish?
You know there is a tremendous opportunity for us in the upcoming “What We Believe” series that starts in just a couple of weeks. Sunday afternoons in the company of fellow believers, learning about the faith, listening to God’s word, and the testimony of others. Sharing our reflections on what will be studied in the course of the next few months, that is, employing our lips and tongues, to articulate our growing understanding of the Good News, our relationship with Christ, and with others in Christ, and so growing more capable of sharing with the world, friends, neighbours, family, the good news.
And what better day to do it than on the Lord’s Day. I know this competes with the NFL – so, you miss the first afternoon game, the next one’s at 4, you’ll be in home in time for that one; there’s the evening game, and there’s Monday and Thursday night football.
That may sound a bit trite, to talk about American football as Christ’s competition, but for all of us there is always something else that makes choosing to learn and grow in faith tougher than it ought to be. So, please discern, find some time for silence, shut out the noise, and let God speak, allow yourselves to listen, and maybe you’ll hear him say: yes, call the parish, go to the website, register, get the workbook, bag a lunch, come and have your ears opened, your tongue released, so that we as a community may grow more capable in professing the true faith in words so many need to receive.
Amen.