Reading 1
Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
Gospel
Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He 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!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
Reflection
We can be tempted to think that our souls are the only things that matter to God. Indeed, our spiritual wellbeing is of infinite importance. But Jesus’s behavior in today’s Gospel and the testimony of all Sacred Scripture show us that God seeks to heal and perfect both body and soul. Our Lord loves and works through all of creation.
God created the world to be a vehicle of His grace. Isaiah uses earthly imagery to represent the saving power of God: “Streams will burst forth in the desert and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.” The physical is not abhorrent to spiritual life; rather, it can be a potent sign and instrument. The same is true of the human body, as today’s Gospel shows.
This Gospel story is richly, almost shockingly, physical. Jesus puts his finger in the man’s ears, spits, touches the man’s tongue, looks up, groans, and cries out. St. Mark is careful to detail the multi-step and bodily nature of this healing. These physical elements are sites of grace. Jesus does not shy away from the unglamorous and corporeal—He heals us wholly, grit, spit, and all.
The importance of both body and soul is one of the great gifts and mysteries of our faith. Let us pray for the grace to love and respect all human beings in their entirety. And when we ask Jesus for healing, whether it is from bodily ailment or spiritual vice, let us remember that God is interested in healing our entire person. The crosses He gives and takes away are always intended to prepare us for the end of time, where we will once again be body-soul unities in heaven, perfected and infinitely loved.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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