Sept. 6th ‘15
Sunday Homily :Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI
Is 35:4-7, Jas 2:1-5, Mk 7:31-37
For
Readings
Many times, when we visit public parks or walking
through the streets, we may see people sitting at corners alone and crying, hiding their
face from public. They may not be having anybody to express their heart-breaking
sorrows or pains which they carry in their hearts by themselves for days, weeks
or months. In this matter, one’s wealth
or poverty, good health or sickness, good job or no job do not make any
difference. The central theme of today’s readings is an invitation to
become humble instruments of healing in Jesus’ hands, by giving compassionate
love and consolation to the sorrowful, voice to the voice-less, needy and the
downtrodden ones. It may be in our own family, neighbourhood or in our society. It
also invites us to enable Jesus to open our own ears and mouth for Jesus and enable
us to be the people of hearing, speaking and rejoicing in the Lord. Today’s
Scripture, invites us to open our ears to hear the word of God and to
loosen our tongues to convey the good news of God’s love and salvation to
others.
Henri Nouwen,
author of many spiritual books, has written about his experiences in South
America working among the poor. He talks about the children, who come and stand
beside him, not looking for a handout but, hoping to be hugged, to be touched,
to be loved. Today’s gospel tells us, a story of Jesus’ healing touch,
conveying the transforming power of God’s love, which healed a deaf mute man.
You may know the story
of "the little monk" Telemachus, a martyr, whose self-sacrificing
commitment to Christian ideals, opened the blind eyes and deaf ears of the
Romans and their fifth century Christian emperor Honorius. According to the
story, this Turkish monk was led by an inner voice to go to Rome in order to
stop the cruel and inhuman gladiatorial fights between the slaves. He followed
the crowds to the Coliseum, where two gladiators were fighting. He tried to
stop them, shouting "In the name of Christ, hold back!" The
gladiators stopped, but the spectators became indignant. A group of them,
rushed into the arena, and beat Telemachus to death. When the crowd saw the
brave little monk, lying dead in a pool of blood, they fell silent, leaving the
stadium one by one. Three days later, because of Telemachus' heroic sacrifice
of his own life, the Emperor decreed an end to the games.
In today's Gospel, which describes
the miraculous healing of a deaf mute, we are invited to open our ears and
mouth, loosen our tongues, and pray for the courage, of our convictions to
become the voice of the voiceless. Jesus desires to give us his healing touch in
order to loosen our tongues, so that, he may speak to the spiritually hungry
through us. He invites us, to lend him our hearts, so that, he may touch the
lives of people of these days through us, just as he touched the lives of
millions through saintly souls, like Francis of Assisi, Fr. Damien, Vincent de
Paul, St. Chavara, Mother Teresa and
others. Like them, we are also invited to become the voice of the “poorest of
the poor,” the helpless, the downtrodden, and the left-out, who cannot
even ‘speak or express their, worries, feelings and concerns without fear. His healing touch will help us to hear the
cries of the needy, poor, and the sick and will enable us to bring down their
silent cries and struggles with compassionate and loving care.
Many times, our own family members
may be in need of our healing touch and concern. It may be our own aged
parents, relatives, sick members of our own family, or neighborhood, physically
and mentally challenged family members, or neighbors, children who are suffering
due to their deceased parents or broken families, couples in crisis, victims of
drug addiction, alcoholism and social evils, members of broken families,
victims of disturbed working conditions or work place jealousy, and so on. Today Jesus stands before us, stretching His
hands to touch us with His healing grace, and to make us experience and enjoy
the healing touch of Jesus in our own life, and also to show kindness, mercy,
and consideration to others through us.
Let us pray, that the healing touch of Jesus will help us to experience
and enjoy Jesus’ love, compassion and concern in our own life situations, and
also to help us convey His joy, peace and hope to those who are in need through
our life of gospel-love and charity. Let us keep open our ears to His Words,
and rejoice in the Lord praising His wonderful presence in our midst with loud
voice. God bless you.
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