SUNDAY HOMILY OF 23RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

SUNDAY HOMILY OF 23RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: OPEN MY EARS, LORD

BY: Bishop Gerald M. Musa

Isaiah 35:4-7, James 2:1-5, Mark 7:31-37

The ear is unique in many ways. It is the organ of the body for hearing and perceiving sound. Each time we baptise infants, we touch the ears and mouth with these words of prayer: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May He soon touch your ears to receive His word, and your mouth to proclaim His faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.” This is called the Ephphata prayer. The blessing of the ears is to listen and obey divine teachings. Having blocked ears symbolises ignorance or refusal to acknowledge the truth. There is a parable of a consummate professor who went to visit his spiritual director. The spiritual director offers the professor some water and continues to pour even after the cup is full, causing it to overflow. When the professor asks why, the master explains, “Like this cup, you are full of opinions and preconceptions. How can I teach you anything unless you first empty your cup?” This story emphasises the importance of being receptive and open to new ideas, which means “opening one’s ears” to wisdom. “Opening ears” in this parable represents the ability to listen with humility, emptying oneself of preconceived notions to truly learn and grow. The prophet Isaiah speaks of God’s promise to restore and heal the people of Israel. The prophecy includes images of physical healing: the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and the mute will speak.

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Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. In the Gospel, we hear about the famous story of the healing of the deaf and mute man. Jesus is travelling through the region of the Decapolis when people bring to Him a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment, asking Jesus to heal him. His deafness and speech impairment may have been caused by genetic factors which he may have inherited. It may have been from an infection while he was in the womb. Other factors that may have caused his deafness and speech impairment may be head injuries he may have sustained from an accident. In any case, his situation was pathetic as he was finding it difficult to hear or respond to sounds, understand speech or articulate words. Jesus takes the man aside privately and respectfully, touches his ears, and says, “Ephphatha,” an Aramaic word meaning “Be opened.” Immediately, the man’s ears are opened, his speech is restored, and he can speak plainly. This miraculous healing represents not only the physical act of restoring hearing and speech but also the spiritual opening of one’s ears to hear and receive God’s message. The phrase “Be opened” serves as a powerful metaphor for how we, too, must open our hearts, minds, and ears to God’s Word and allow His grace to transform us.

Today, people with hearing or speech disabilities are described as people with significant hearing loss or hard of hearing, and those who speech disabilities are described as non-verbal or speech impaired. Sometimes, the names which we call these people in our local languages can be demeaning and humiliating. Both the healing of the man in the Gospel and James’ call to not show favouritism toward the wealthy stress the dignity of every individual. The readings call the Christian community to be inclusive, ensuring that everyone, particularly the marginalized, is valued and respected. Often, I hear wise people say that the quality of a society is determined by how they treat the vulnerable, elderly, children, poor, and marginalized people.

Sometimes, we see how people with disability are treated scornfully in places of worship. We hardly make provision for sign language for the deaf or braille for the blind, or listening devices for those hard of hearing. We are often guilty of showing preferential treatment to people who are rich, influential, connected, and educated. Unlike Jesus, we relegate those who are poor to the ground and treat them disrespectfully. St. James instructs, “My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man with gold rings and in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, ‘Have a seat here, please,’ while you say to the poor man, ‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-5). We should open our ears widely and listen to this wise counsel of the Apostle. The prophet Jeremiah describes how closed our ears are. He says, “Behold, their ears are closed, they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it” (Jeremiah 6:10).

Our various cultures place a high value on the wisdom of listening. For example, the Hausa culture highlights the danger of having closed ears when it says, “Kunnen kashi baya jin Magana” which means ears made of bone does not listen. This means it is useless to speak to someone unresponsive, stubborn, or unwilling to listen. Conversely, the culture emphasises the importance of listening to advice and warning in the following proverb, “Idan kunne yaji, to jiki ya tsira, ” meaning, If the ear listens, the body is safe. If one listens to wise counsel, one can avoid danger or harm, implying that paying attention to good advice leads to safety and well-being.

During the prayer of Angelus, Pope Francis explains the kind of deafness that many of us suffer. According to the Pope, “We all have ears, but very often we are not able to hear. Why is this? Brothers and sisters, there is an interior deafness that we can ask Jesus to touch and heal today. It is the interior deafness, which is worse than physical deafness because it is the deafness of the heart.” Let us pray to Jesus to open our ears that we may listen to his words; open our mouths that we may pray and praise him; open our ears that we may listen to the cry of the needy; open our mouths that we may speak truthfully and justly; open our ears that we may be open to new ideas and listen to advise; open our mouths that we may speak words of peace and comfort. May we open our ears to hear the still, small voice of God speaking to us, directing us, constantly, and always.

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