Msgr. Joseph Prior
(See the readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
The people react to Jesus’ healing. “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Imagine for a moment what the persons who were healed had to say, especially the deaf man who the people had asked Jesus to heal.
Jesus heals us. For most of us the healing is a spiritual reality. He forgives us our sins. He gives us clarity when we are confused. He lifts us up in hope when we are downcast. He consoles us in our sorrows. He sooths us when in pain. He has won us life as we face death. Perhaps we might ask ourselves, what words do I say in response to this healing? How do I speak about Jesus’ role in my life?
Hubert Davis, the successful coach of the NCAA Division I basketball team, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, held a press conference when he was introduced as the new coach in 2021. He was asked about his faith. Kevin Mercer in “Sport Spectrum” (February 23, 2022) reported on the interview:
“(Faith is) the most important thing to me. My faith and foundation (are) firmly in my relationship with Jesus. It just is. And my mother was a Christian and she begged me to go to church growing up. And I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t interested in it. My mom used to always say that Jesus had a plan for me. And at the time growing up, I didn’t understand it and I didn’t listen to it.”
Davis said he grew a tremendous hatred toward God after his mother passed away in high school. His animosity continued into his first two years at UNC. He couldn’t reconcile what his mom had told him with the pain of her loss.
He continued, “One of the things that (legendary Tar Heels coach Dean) Smith used to do was make all the freshmen go to church. And as I went to church, only because Coach Smith and (assistant) Coach Guthridge encouraged me to go to church, I started to understand what my mom was talking about. I started to understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for me and how much he loves me, and two days before my junior year of college, I became a Christian.
“Instead of being upset that Jesus has taken away the most beautiful person in my life in my mom, I’m thankful every day that he gave me the best that I could ever have for 16 years. … My faith in Christ is the foundation of who I am.”
Davis gives a wonderful witness and testimony to how Jesus has made a difference in his life. The experience he recalls is like the movement from darkness and doubt to light and faith. I imagine the deaf man in this Sunday’s Gospel had a similar experience as well as all those people who brought him to Jesus.
The transformative power of a relationship with Jesus is amazing. God’s love for us is at the same time immense and immediate. We experience the Father’s love through the Son. Being drawn into that relationship of love has an incredible effect in our lives and they are changed for the better.
Isaiah, in the first reading for the liturgy, prophecies about such a transformation. He speaks of a time when God will visit his people and vindicate them. He comes to save them.
The prophet describes the transformation in these words: “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.” The change that takes place is so significant that the whole world is affected. His words have added impact when Jesus arrives.
In Jesus, the unseen God is seen, the distance is bridged, the power of divine love touches the minds and hearts of all he encounters, offering them his love. When accepted in faith, this love heals and strengthens, enlightens and directs, inspires and enlivens the believer. Life has new meaning. Hope dispels despair. Struggles are put into context. Compassion replaces self-interest. Mercy replaces disdain. Sadness is transformed into joy; anger to peace.
The second reading of Sunday’s liturgy comes from the Letter of Saint James. In the passage the author urges us to live in the life of love by sharing that love for everyone — to “show no partiality.” In doing so, he reminds us that God choose us in our poverty, our need, our inability to save ourselves.
He then speaks of the transformation that takes place in and through Christ Jesus as he writes: “Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?”
Jesus has transformed the world — our world, our lives. He has given us life through his death and resurrection. He has saved us from sin and welcomed us into the Kingdom of God. Perhaps we might spend time this week reflecting on his great love in our lives and try to find words that express our awe, for surely: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.
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