My brothers and sisters in Christ, hundreds of years before the birth
of our Lord and Savior, the prophet Isaiah spoke to a people in slavery
and he said to them: "God will come, and He will send to us a Messiah and
this Messiah will make the deaf to hear and will make the mute to sing.
Centuries later, in Christ our Lord Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled, and
today’s gospel is a central one because our Lord takes a man who is deaf,
a man who is mute, a man who cannot hear the word of God or speak God’s
praises; and He takes him by himself, He touches him, He utters a prayer
from the Father spoken through the voice of the Son, a groan, a breath
of the Holy Spirit on this man, and in Christ Jesus our Lord the Holy Trinity
heals this man whose ears are opened, whose mouth is unstopped, and this
man sings the praises of God. And in this one man all of mankind is healed,
and this miracle then, is a miracle for all mankind because prior to the
coming of Christ all of mankind ears were stopped and could not hear the
voice of God. Before the coming of Christ our Lord all of mankind was blind
and didn’t know the way to heaven. Before the coming of Christ Jesus our
Lord, no one could speak words worthy of God’s praise. And so for all of
us, our eyes, our ears, our lips, are unstopped. How does that happen?
I would like to answer that in light of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. And
also why does God do this; her life makes it very clear. Over eighty years
ago, Mother Theresa of Calcutta was born in Europe. When she was but a
few days old her parents carried her in their arms to the neighborhood
church, and there she was baptized by the priest. And over eighty years
ago, after the water was poured which gives eternal life in the name of
the Holy Trinity, the priest made the sign of the cross over her ears and
over her mouth, and the priest said "effata" , "be opened! May the Lord
be in your ears, that you might hear His holy word, and may He open your
mouth that your tongue might proclaim His praise." Our Lord opened the
ears of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and her mouth and her eyes and her
mind and her will through the Sacrament of baptism. And thanks be to God,
Mother Theresa took seriously the baptismal vow to know and love and serve
the good God always. And she dedicated her life to hearing the word of
God and speaking it in a special way to the poorest of God’s poor. She
would gather them from the gutters of the streets in India, and she who
heard God speaking to her through the dying lepers in the gutter, and who
would speak then God’s words to them with a tender care and homes for the
dying filled with great love. She fulfilled her baptismal promise to hear
the word of God, and to speak it to those who need that message of salvation
and hope.
Because her ears and her eyes were opened to God she could serve God
well. Two days ago she died, and at the instant of her death God separated
her soul from her body, and at that instant of death, the Lord Jesus judged
her soul whether it would be worthy of Him, Himself. Imagine the joy of
Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and if you think God opened her ears and her
lips and her eyes while she was on earth, imagine what God did at the moment
of her death. Now she sees God as He truly is, now her ears hear His voice,
now her lips speak a hymn of praise that has no end. God has opened her
ears and her mouth and her eyes and she knows the truth, and that is what
God desires to do for each one of us. We were deaf, we were blind, and
we were unable to speak God’s praise, but each one of you were baptized
and the priest blessed your ears and said "May your ears be opened to hear
God’s word" not the voice of the world but God’s word, "and may your mouth
be opened to sing the praises of God." And so for you, God has given to
you the commission: "Let Me use your mind for My glory, let Me use your
body for My work here on earth, let me use your ears that I might make
you wise, because the world can’t do it, only I can. Let Me use your mouth
so that I might sing the praises of the Father" -says the Lord Jesus- "through
you. Open your hands so that I might use them, so that at the hour of your
death you also might be able to say along with Saint Peter: ‘Yes Lord,
You know that I love You. I opened my eyes and ears and hands to You, You
know well that I love you’. " And then truly will God be able to
open our senses in the beatific vision of Heaven, world without end.
There is a danger here though. The danger that we must watch out is
this: God has opened our eyes and our ears for a particular purpose, in
order that we might all be opened to receive Him and His wisdom; and much
of that is given to us through the things of this world, when we see God’s
beautiful world, when we see God’s beautiful world we see the beauty of
God. When we see the intricacy of God’s world, we see His wisdom. Saint
Ignatius of Loyola says that anything that is put on this world God desires
us to be able to see and touch, and to be able to use in order that those
things might be an aid to the salvation of our souls. But if anything hinders
us we must be rid of it. And that’s the danger. In our prayers we must
ask: "Dear Lord Jesus, what I hear this day, does it bring me closer to
You or does it drive me away from You? Lord Jesus what I look upon this
day, does it draw me closer to You, as my eyes are intended to do, or does
it drive me away? Does what I speak this day Lord, does it draw me closer
to You in service or does it drive me away from You?" All of our
senses are to be used to draw us closer to God, but they can also be our
enemies if we use them wrongly. Let me give you some examples.
Television; you hear me rail against it often, I haven’t for a while
so I’ll do it again. Television, can be a wonderful medium, it can also
be profoundly addictive. How many people’s lives are spent consumed by
television, which really is a drug. All drugs suspend thought, that’s what
television does. And prime time television is becoming profoundly anti-gospel.
There is a television show coming up this September, I forgot the name
of it, but it is about some priest that supposedly doesn’t believe in God,
and a whole congregation all filled with people who are denying their faith.
It’s supposed to be a terrible show, put out by Disney. We even have petitions
if you wish to sign them, I think next week, asking Disney to withdraw
the program. It is profoundly anti-Catholic. If there was a Jewish Rabbi
portrayed that way it would never fly; but a Catholic priest that’s OK.
So, television is profoundly, I believe, capable of being one of those
things that, when our eyes are focused on that it can damage our faith,
we must be careful. The internet is one area. More and more I’m hearing
a number of you in confession telling me that you are looking at the pornography
on the Internet because it is so easy to get a hold of. It is right there
on your computer screen. If that is an occasion of sin for you, get rid
of the Internet. If you can’t handle that and it is a source of temptation,
get rid of it. Don’t let pornography destroy the grace of God in your soul.
Another example would be some of the music. Some of the music is profoundly
violent; and again through our ears helps to destroy God’s grace in our
souls.
God gave us our senses, we are told in today’s gospel, that they might
unite us to God for His glory for ever. Let us daily ask ourselves in discernment
and prayer: "Is what I am hearing leading me to You? Is what I am speaking,
is what I am looking upon, is it leading me to You?" That is why God has
opened our senses, that is why He gives them to us, that He might lead
us surely and safely to the glory of God the Father for ever and ever in
heaven.
