VIGESIMO TERCER DOMINGO DEL TIEMPO ORDINARIO 2024

Queridos hermanos y hermanas, permítanme comenzar esta reflexión con las siguientes preguntas: ¿Has estado sordo o mudo alguna vez? ¿Cómo te sientes cuando alguien no te habla? ¿Cómo te sientes cuando alguien no te escucha? ¿Hay alguien de tu familia o de tus conocidos con quien no hables? ¿Hay alguien a quien no escuchas? Y por último, ¿sueles escuchar las palabras de Dios?

Este domingo, la Palabra de Dios nos invita a confiar en él, a tener fe en Aquel que da valor y esperanza a los que luchan y afrontan sus momentos difíciles. El Evangelio de hoy nos habla de un milagro realizado por Jesús en un hombre que era mudo y sordo; un hombre que no podía comunicarse bien con los demás.

Permítanme decir que el Evangelio de hoy trata de la comunicación y de cómo nos comunicamos con los demás. Hay situaciones en nuestras vidas en las que nos volvemos «mudos y sordos» ante los demás. Somos «mudos» cuando no hablamos con otras personas o nos negamos a hablar con personas que nos han ofendido. A veces dejamos de hablarle a alguna persona porque nos cae mal, porque hemos tenido un desacuerdo con ella o porque nos ha ofendido. Somos, o nos hacemos los «sordos» cuando no queremos escuchar a alguien o prestar atención a lo que esa persona nos dice, o simplemente porque no queremos oír más su voz.

En el evangelio de hoy Jesús realiza tres acciones para curar al sordomudo:

1. Lo apartó de la multitud

2. Tocó los oídos y la lengua del hombre

3. Le dijo: «Ábrete».

Queridos hermanos y hermanas, fíjense que Jesús no tiene miedo de tocarnos. Él quiere sanar nuestras enfermedades y liberarnos de todo aquello que pueda dañar nuestras relaciones con él y con los demás. Quiere además, que estemos «abiertos» a Él y a las personas que nos aman. Como al sordomudo que estaba alejado de la sociedad y su enfermedad le impedía comunicarse bien con los demás, Jesús quiere sanarnos y devolvernos sanos para comunicarnos con los que nos rodean.

Permítanme hacerle algunas preguntas más: ¿Cómo es la comunicación en tu familia? ¿existe un buen diálogo entre ustedes? ¿Con qué frecuencia hablan entre ustedes? En nuestra sociedad moderna, donde todo parece estar conectado a través de internet y las redes sociales, la mayoría de la gente tiene un teléfono móvil, un correo electrónico y varias cuentas en plataformas de internet, pero ¿crees tú que nos «conectamos» bien entre nosotros? ¿Son estas conversaciones virtuales personales y «profundas»? Con nuestros teléfonos móviles podemos conectarnos con personas que están lejos de nosotros y, al mismo tiempo, desconectarnos con las que están cerca. ¿Has visto alguna vez la imagen de una reunión familiar en la que todo el mundo está usando el móvil y no hay ninguna conversación personal entre ellos? Incluso en los restaurantes, algunas personas están mirando sus teléfonos o simplemente enviando mensajes de texto mientras otros están comiendo, o en nuestras familias cuando nos reunimos a veces el personaje más importante de la reunión parece ser nuestro teléfono móvil. Hemos llegado a tal punto que el diálogo y las conversaciones cara a cara han sido sustituidas por los mensajes de texto, los emojis o por facetime.

Hoy, Jesús nos invita a tomar un momento para estar con Él. A dejar por un momento nuestros teléfonos móviles y las redes sociales, y conectarnos con él y con nuestros hermanos sin ninguna mediación. Recordemos que Él quiere abrir nuestras mentes y sanar nuestras actitudes hacia aquellos que están esperando una oportunidad por parte de nosotros para escucharlos y volver a restablecer la comunicación rota con ellos. Abre tu corazón a Jesús y permite que él te sane hoy.

                                                           Rev. Luis Segura M.S.C.—Pastor

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TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 2024

Dear brothers and sisters, let me begin this reflection with the following questions: Have you ever been deaf or mute? How do you feel when someone does not speak to you? How do you feel when someone does not listen to you? Is there someone in your family or among your acquaintances that you do not speak to? Is there someone you do not listen to? And finally, do you often listen to the words of God?

This Sunday, the Word of God invites us to trust in Him, to have faith in the One who gives courage and hope to those who struggle and face their difficult times. Today's Gospel tells us of a miracle performed by Jesus on a man who was mute and deaf; a man who could not communicate well with others.

Let me say that today's Gospel is about communication and how we communicate with others. There are situations in our lives when we become “mute and deaf” to others. We are “mute” when we do not speak to other people or we refuse to speak to people who have offended us. Sometimes we stop talking to someone because we do not like them, because we have had a disagreement with them or because they have offended us. We are, or become “deaf” when we do not want to listen to someone or pay attention to what that person says to us, or simply because we do not want to hear their voice anymore.

In today's Gospel, Jesus performs three actions to heal the deaf-mute:

1. He took him away from the crowd

2. He touched the man's ears and tongue

3. He said to him: “Open up.”

Dear brothers and sisters, notice that Jesus is not afraid to touch us. He wants to heal our illnesses and free us from everything that could harm our relationships with him and with others. He also wants us to be “open” to Him and to the people who love us. Like the deaf-mute who was alienated from society and whose illness prevented him from communicating well with others, Jesus wants to heal us and make us healthy so that we can communicate with those around us.

Let me ask you a few more questions: How is communication in your family? Is there good dialogue between you? How often do you talk to each other? In our modern society, where everything seems to be connected through the Internet and social media, most people have a mobile phone, an email address, and several accounts on Internet platforms, but do you think we “connect” well with each other? Are these virtual conversations personal and “deep”? With our mobile phones we can connect with people who are far away from us and, at the same time, disconnect with those who are close. Have you ever seen the image of a family gathering where everyone is using their mobile phone and there is no personal conversation between them? Even in restaurants, some people are looking at their phones or just texting while others are eating, or in our families when we gather together sometimes the most important character in the gathering seems to be our cell phone. We have reached a point where face-to-face dialogue and conversations have been replaced by text messages, emojis or FaceTime.

Today, Jesus invites us to take a moment to be with Him. To leave our cell phones and social media for a moment, and connect with Him and our brothers and sisters without any mediation. Let us remember that He wants to open our minds and heal our attitudes toward those who are waiting for an opportunity from us to listen to them and reestablish broken communication with them. Open your heart to Jesus and allow Him to heal you today.

                                                                                      Rev. Luis Segura M.S.C.—Pastor

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This Sunday’s Gospel passage (cf. Mk 7:31-37) refers to the episode of the miraculous healing by Jesus of a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They brought to him a deaf and dumb man, beseeching Him to lay a hand upon him. Instead, He performed two different gestures upon him: first of all He took the man aside, far from the crowd. On this occasion, as on others, Jesus always acts with discretion. He does not want to impress people; He is not seeking popularity or success, but wishes onlyto do good to people. With this attitude, He teaches us that good is to be done without clamour, without ostentation, without “blowing one’s trumpet”. It should be done quietly. When they had drawn aside, Jesus put his fingers in the deaf man’s ears and touched his tongue with saliva. This gesture refers to the Incarnation. The Son of God is a man inserted into human reality: he became man; therefore he can understand another man’s distressing condition and intervene with a gesture which concerned his own humanity. At the same time, Jesus wanted to make it understood that the miracle occurred because ofhis union with the Father: for this reason, he looked up to heaven. He then sighed and said the decisive word: “Ephphatha”, which means “Be opened”. And immediately the man was healed: his ears were opened, his tongue was released. For him the healing was an “opening” to others and to the world.

This Gospel narrative emphasizes the need for a twofold healing. First and foremost the healing from illness and from physical suffering, in order to restore bodily health; even though this aim is not completely achievable on the earthly plane, despite the many efforts of science and medicine. But there is a second, perhaps more difficult healing, and it is healing from fear. Healing from the fear that impels us to marginalize the sick, to marginalize the suffering, the disabled. And there are many ways to marginalize, even by showing pseudo compassion or by ignoring the problem; we remain deaf and dumb to the suffering of people marked by illness, anguish and difficulty. Too often the sick and the suffering become a problem, while they should be an occasion to show a society’s concern and solidarity with regard to the weakest.

Jesus revealed to us the secret of a miracle that we too can imitate, becoming protagonists of “Ephphatha”, of that phrase ‘be opened’ with which He gave speech and hearing back to the deaf and dumb man. It means opening ourselves to the needs of our brothers and sisters who are suffering and in need of help, by shunning selfishness and hardheartedness. It is precisely the heart, that is the deep core of the person, that Jesus came to “open”, to free, in order to make us capable of fully living the relationship with God and with others. He became man so that man, rendered internally deaf and mute by sin, may hear the voice of God, the voice of Love that speaks to his heart, and thereby in turn, may learn to speak the language of love, transforming it into gestures of generosity and self- giving.

May Mary, the One who completely “opened” herself to the Lord’s love, enable us to experience each day, in faith, the miracle of “Ephphatha”, in order to live in communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.

Rev. Jos Rajesh Peter M.S.C.

23rd Sunday - Cycle B

My friends, today's Second Reading is a continuation of the Letter of St. James from last week.  In a nutshell – the Letter of James is all about Christian Ethics:  Treating everyone with respect.

"If a man (or woman) with gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly – and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in – and you treat the one wearing the fine clothes better than the poor person…”  Well, St. James tell us – when we do that – we've appointed ourselves as judges…

But – you know – isn't that pretty much human nature ?  Showing respect to those in authority – or position ?  Like – if the Bishop – or the Pope – were to walk in this Church right now – wouldn't we stand – to show respect ?

Also – in a courtroom – when the bailiff says, "All rise" – everyone who is physically able – darn well better stand to show respect for the judge….

Over the years, when I worked for the Diocese in the Office of Construction and Real Estate, I attended quite a few meetings regarding donations of real estate and money which were being donated to various parishes or schools.

Now – several of the donors were millionaires.  And – four Billionaires that I was aware of... 

It was interesting – and a little humorous – to see people in the meeting falling over themselves – trying to please and impress the wealthy donor.  To be fair – these people were sincerely trying to get a donation for the benefit of their church or school.  As I said earlier – pretty much human nature.

My friends, catering to the wealthy and those in position is only half of what St. James was talking about.  The other half is treating everyone – rich and poor – with respect.

When I was a young boy, part of this reading would trouble me:

James says, "Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith – and heirs of the kingdom ?" 

Although my family was far from wealthy – we were not poor, either.  I used wonder: "How poor do you have to be to inherit the Kingdom ?  How much money will exclude a person from Heaven ?"

Kind of silly when I think of it now but what St. James is saying is:  "God chose everyone – including the poor – to inherit the Kingdom…"   Everyone is invited – rich and poor.

Like in the Beatitudes – when Jesus said:

• Blessed are the poor.

• Blessed are the hungry.

• Blessed are the weeping.

You don't have to be poor, hungry and weeping to inherit the Kingdom.  All are welcome in the Kingdom.  Jesus was reassuring the poor – those who typically have little or no voice – that they too can inherit the Kingdom.

My friends – the Letter of St. James is about Christian Ethics.  Everyone is treated with respect by God – and James is urging the Christian community to imitate God, and do the same…

In the Gospel – when Jesus healed the deaf mute – he said, "Ephphatha !"  "Be opened !"

When we Baptize someone into our faith – the priest or deacon or bishop says the same thing.  He touches the ears and mouth of the person and says, "Ephphatha !  May the Lord touch your ears to hear his word.  May he touch your mouth to proclaim his faith."

May our Lord Jesus Christ also touch and open our hearts to recognize and welcome the poor, the stranger, the immigrant, the widow and widower, the orphan, the sick, the lonely and those with no voice…