HOMILY WEEK 05 05 – Year II
Healing Touch and Joyful Proclamation:
Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
(1 Kg 11:29-32; Ps 81; Mk 7:31-37)
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“We are not punished for our sins – we are punished by them.”
This cryptic saying, coming out of the 12 Step program of A.A., invites us to believe in Jesus as Son of God, listen to him and obey him in response to the readings today.
Mark tells us that Jesus took the mute and deaf man “off by himself away from the crowd.” Jesus then “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!’).” Looking up to his Father and inserting his fingers into the man’s ears, Jesus establishes, as it were, an electrical current, literally plugging him into the divine energy, compelling him to hear the Word and healing his inability to speak.
Now for the healing’s spiritual significance. The crowd is a large part of the problem. The raucous voices of so many, the insistent bray of the advertising culture, the confusing Babel of competing spiritualities—all of it makes us deaf to God’s word. And therefore, we have to be moved to a place of silence and communion.
Jesus draws us into his space, the space of the Church. There, away from the crowd, we can immerse ourselves in the rhythm of the liturgy, listen avidly to Scripture, study the theological tradition, watch the actions of holy people, take in the beauty of sacred art and architecture. There we can hear.
I would add the comment that this miracle illustrates Jesus, who worked miracles, was not a miracle worker. What do I mean by that? It is striking that Jesus never healed toothaches, headaches, or stomach aches. All the miracles of Jesus had to do with the senses – sight, hearing, speaking – or walking, giving life, and forgiving. He never performed a miracle just for the sake of doing so. All his miracles were deliberate revelations of who he was – the Son of God, Messiah and Redeemer, designed to elicit faith in him as precisely that. Healing a paralytic was another example, telling his opponents, “What is easier to say, ‘Take up you mat”, or ‘Your sins are forgiven?’” So that they would see he was who he said he was, he then told the man both – to take up his mat and that his sins were forgiven (Luke 5:17-39).
In the first reading, we see the opposite – a loss of faith and destructive actions. It follows yesterday’s reading about King Solomon falling into idolatry in his old age, influenced by his pagan wives. As a consequence of his infidelity and sin, he is punished by them. His kingdom will break into pieces, one to stay with the house of David (attributed to God as per Old Testament mentality). The prophet Ahijah reveals what will happen through word and dramatic gesture, tearing his new cloak into twelve pieces.
David as King and representative of God, pre-figured Jesus through his humble obedience. Solomon disobeys God, does his own will and thus suffers the consequence of his sin – the division of his kingdom. Division is usually diabolical as the word division comes from the Greek diablos, or devil.
Jesus, the real King, knew his power came from God, listened to God’s voice and did God’s will. The people of the diaspora believe in him as Son of God, his power to heal, and bring to him the man who is deaf (cannot hear) and who has a speech impediment (cannot speak properly).
Mark stresses the physical in this miracle – a finger in the man’s ear, spittle, touch and away from the crowds. Jesus here manifests himself as the One from God, also through dramatic prophetic gesture (separation, finger in the ear, spit, touching his tongue) and speaking God’s word, similar to the prophet Ahijah, yet going way beyond his prophetic gesture as the Christ.
I think it is safe to say our modern society is less and less humane and relational as technology takes over, and we are more and more focused on touch pads, screens and virtual conversations, then on person-to-person contact. There is no substitute for human touch, however. One woman who had a rash on her body medical science could not explain, was healed by her grandmother who gave her regular massages, with the simple wise comment, “Skin needs to be touched.”
The psalm today invites us not to just hear God’s voice, but to truly listen to it, and to live it, as did David and Jesus. There is a huge step from reading and hearing God’s word, to actually truly living it in our lives. The challenge for us is to now let go of our own idolatry of over-attachment to possessions, prestige, power and pleasure, and to allow God and relationships to become the centre of our life. We are here, each with our own story, to get re-grounded in our love for God, others and ourselves, to both hear, listen to and live the Word of God who is love.
Today we celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1858 Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in a cave at Massabielle, near Lourdes in France. Just four years earlier, in 1854, the church had declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, so when the “beautiful woman” of Bernadette’s visions identified herself as the Immaculate Conception there was initial skepticism. Although others accompanied Bernadette to the grotto, no one else could see or hear the visions. However, it did not take long for an Episcopal Commission, an official inquiry, to say: “We judge that Mary the Immaculate Mother of God, did really appear to Bernadette Soubirous on February 11th, 1858 and on certain subsequent days, 18 times in all, in the Grotto of Massabielle, near the town of Lourdes; that this appearance bears every mark of truth.”
A few years later, this date was added to the list of Marian feasts to honor the mysterious beauty of the Immaculate Conception. So, the veneration of Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes arose first in popular devotion and later in the Church’s liturgy.
To celebrate the Eucharist together is in a way, to experience the gospel miracle as we listen attentively to the Word of God, proclaim God’s praises, and enter into intimate communion with Jesus, touching his very body and drinking his blood. May our celebration empower us to express our faith in him through acts of love.
