CROWDS

CROWDS

 

“So Jesus took him off by himself, away from the crowd…” – Mark 7:33

 

Once, we were at Mass when our then three-year-old son tested our patience. After the sermon, the priest paused to give the congregation a time to reflect. But a screeching sound broke the calmness in the room. I opened my eyes to see my son pushing one of the vacant chairs. I snatched him by his arm and told him to close his eyes and pray. He obeyed but, shortly after, cried out, “Wake me up if I fall asleep.”

Then the priest asked everyone to open their palms as a sign of accepting Jesus. Our son heard this and made his next move. “Mama, I don’t like my gum anymore,” he said as he took the bubblegum from his mouth and placed it on my wife’s palm. All I could do was smile and put him on my lap before he distracted the other churchgoers. Like the man in the Gospel, we all have our own “crowd.” It may be our work, habitual sins or bad relationships but they all distract us from our desire to be closer to Jesus. That’s why we need to take time to be alone with the Lord. When we do, we’re recharged and can face another day with His grace and strength.Alvin Fabella (alvinfabella@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

Making a daily appointment with God equips us to handle the “crowds” in our life.

 

Lord, I pray for all my concerns for the day. May these concerns motivate me more to seek You rather than distract me away from You. Amen.

 

Are you Deaf and Dumb?

 

 “Of course not,” you respond indignantly after reading this question. “How dare you ask?”

Sorry if I have offended your well-hearing ears and “well-oiled” lips. Let us then have a look at today’s Gospel passage. What could be the significance of the healing of the deaf man which Mark describes so vividly in every detail? He even quotes the exact word Jesus used in Aramaic, “Ephphatha.”

In the “Rite of Baptism for Adults” today’s Gospel is read. Then the priest touches with his thumb the ears and the mouth of the candidate and says, “Ephphatha, that is, be opened, that you may profess the faith you have heard, to the praise and glory of God.”

This indicates that the person to be baptized may hear physically very well but that there is another deafness and dumbness that has to be healed —a spiritual deafness and dumbness. We were healed from it in baptism but I dare to repeat my question I asked above: “Are you deaf and dumb?”

You may hear very well physically, no doubt. But what about spiritual hearing?

Let’s have some examples. In church you hear the Gospel and the homily — but do you do what they tell you once you leave the church? That’s one case of spiritual deafness.

You hear a neighbor is in need, but forget it conveniently as soon as you have heard it — another case of spiritual deafness. I could go on, but what about dumbness? Oh yes, we all talk a lot but what about sharing the Good News? What about defending our faith? What about inserting in our conversations words and wisdom of Jesus and the saints?

How I wish the Lord would be here, put His fingers into our inner ears and touch our tongues with His Spirit that we may begin to listen attentively to the cries of the suffering and share God’s wisdom in our conversations. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

Reflection Question:

Reading today’s Gospel and this reflection, did I realize my spiritual deafness and dumbness? What can I do to overcome it?

 

Lord, spiritually deaf and dumb as I am, I approach You and beg You to spiritually do to me what You did physically to the man in today’s Gospel.

 

St. Julian, pray for us.