Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius<\/em><\/p>\n (1 Kg 11:4-13; Ps 106; Mk 7:24-30)<\/p>\n **********************************************<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not punished for our sins \u2013 we are punished by them.\u201d<\/p>\n This cryptic saying, coming out of the 12 Step program, invites us to believe in Jesus as Son of God, listen to him and obey him in response to the readings today.<\/p>\n According to Bishop Robert Barron, Mark tells us that Jesus took the mute and deaf man \u201coff by himself away from the crowd.\u201d Jesus then \u201cput his finger into the man\u2019s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, \u2018Ephphatha!\u2019 (that is, \u2018Be opened!\u2019).\u201d Looking up to his Father and inserting his fingers into the man\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Now for the healing\u2019s 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\u2014all of it makes us deaf to God\u2019s word. And therefore, we have to be moved to a place of silence and communion.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I would add the comment that this miracle illustrates Jesus worked miracles, but 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 \u2013 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 \u2013 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, \u201cWhat is easier to say, \u2018Take up you mat\u201d, or \u2018Your sins are forgiven?\u2019\u201d So that they would see he was who he said he was, he then told the man both \u2013 to take up his mat and that his sins were forgiven (Luke 5:17-39).<\/p>\n In the first reading, we see the opposite \u2013 a loss of faith and destructive actions. It follows yesterday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 the division of his kingdom. Division is usually diabolical as the word division comes from the Greek diablos<\/em>, or devil.<\/p>\n Jesus, the real King, knew his power came from God, listened to God\u2019s voice and did God\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n Mark stresses the physical in this miracle \u2013 a finger in the man\u2019s 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\u2019s word, similar to the prophet Ahijah, yet going way beyond his prophetic gesture as the Christ.<\/p>\n 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, \u201cSkin needs to be touched.\u201d<\/p>\n The L\u2019Arche movement founded by the late Jean Vanier is a prophetic place where words of affirmation, gestures of affection, healing hugs and joyous celebrations of all kinds bring about powerful healing and transformation for the mentally challenged.<\/p>\n The psalm today invites us not to just hear God\u2019s 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\u2019s 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 possession, prestige, power and pleasure, and to allow God and relationships to become the center 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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, as did Saints Cyril and Methodius.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY WEEK 05 05 \u2013 Year II Healing Touch and Joyful Proclamation: Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius (1 Kg 11:4-13; Ps 106; Mk 7:24-30) ********************************************** \u201cWe are not punished for our sins \u2013 we are punished by them.\u201d This cryptic saying, coming out of the 12 Step program, invites us to believe in Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3278,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions\/3278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Sts-Cyril-Methodius.jpeg\")
Today the universal church honors saints Cyril and Methodius, who are sometimes called the Apostles to the Slavs for their work as missionaries. The two brothers were born in Thessalonika, Greece, in the 9th<\/sup> century (Cyril adopted that name late in life \u2013 his name at birth was Constantine.) Because they could speak the Slavic language, they were sent as missionaries first to what is now Ukraine, and then to Moravia, situated between Byzantium and the Germanic peoples. They worked to make the liturgy and Scripture available in the vernacular, and Cyril devised an alphabet which some feel is the precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. While they encountered political opposition, they did enjoy the support of Pope Adrian II. Cyril died in Rome, while Methodius was consecrated a bishop and returned to Moravia. In 1980 Pope John Paul II declared Cyril and Methodius patrons of Europe.<\/p>\n