Corrected vision hearing and speech

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our partiality to those who stand out in our secular society.

Hearing from the privileged

We are urged to seek correction of our understanding through our relationship with Jesus as healer. The Prophet Isaiah describes the deliverance of Israel in terms of abundant life in people and nature.

* [35:1–10] This chapter contains a number of themes similar to those in Deutero-Isaiah (chaps. 40–55), for example, the blossoming of the wilderness (vv. 1–2; cf. 41:18–19), which is now well-irrigated (v. 7; cf. 43:19–20); sight to the blind (vv. 5–6; cf. 42:7, 16); a highway in the wilderness (v. 8; cf. 41:3); and the return of the redeemed/ransomed to Zion (vv. 9–10; cf. 51:11). Nevertheless, it forms a unit with chap. 34 (see note on 34:1–35:10) and reflects, along with that chapter, themes found in chaps. 1–33.

The Letter of James focuses on the Sin of Partiality.

* [2:4] When Christians show favoritism to the rich they are guilty of the worst kind of prejudice and discrimination. The author says that such Christians set themselves up as judges who judge not by divine law but by the basest, self-serving motives.

In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus corrects vision, hearing and speech and reminds us of our inability to completely understand His message.

* [7:24–37] The withdrawal of Jesus to the district of Tyre may have been for a respite (Mk 7:24), but he soon moved onward to Sidon and, by way of the Sea of Galilee, to the Decapolis. These districts provided a Gentile setting for the extension of his ministry of healing because the people there acknowledged his power (Mk 7:29, 37). The actions attributed to Jesus (Mk 7:33–35) were also used by healers of the time.

Caritas Canada cites the Principles of Catholic Social Teaching for an understanding of the preferential option for the poor. The article quotes Saint John Paul II.

The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; production to meet social needs over production for military purposes.- Saint John Paul II, Address on Christian Unity in a Technological Age, Toronto, 1984

The Messianic Secret connected with the Gospel of Mark is discussed by Peter Feldmeier who offers an explanation that Jesus’ full identity and mission was a secret to all, including his disciples. Framing the matter this way gives us some insight into the healing story in today's’ reading, as well as the next one in which a blind man is given sight (Mark 8:22-26). The afflictions healed mirror the disciples themselves, who are too often both deaf and blind.

The messianic secret can be alive and well in our lives. While some religious people may be more generous and moral than nonreligious folk, most are not dramatically so. The sociologist Christian Smith argues that most religious people in effect live a faith he calls “moral therapeutic deism.” It boils down to this: God wants them to be happy and modestly moral; God makes few demands on them; God promises heaven to anyone who is not egregiously evil; and God is not imagined to be actively part of a person’s everyday life. Religious skeptics rightly ask: What real difference in your life does being a Christian make?

Jeanne Schuler connects to the psalmist (Psalm 146.6-10) to ask how do we get closer to God’s kingdom?

In God’s kingdom, the poor are seated first.  The afflicted are gently raised up, and those cast into ditches are rescued.  Barriers fall and rigid hierarchies come apart. Touched by the spirit, what is broken heals. Even nature shares in this surge of energy.  As healing spreads, we burst forth like mountain streams. “Let me tell you who I am. Please share our meal.” The call of justice persists.  It runs deeper than we can imagine. In God’s kingdom, the highbrows look up from their critiques, and we who are rich loosen our grip on what consumes us.

Don Schwager quotes “The touch of the Lord”, by Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD).

"That power which may not be handled came down and clothed itself in members that may be touched, that the desperate may draw near to him, that in touching his humanity they may discern his divinity. For that speechless man the Lord healed with the fingers of his body. He put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue. At that moment with fingers that may be touched, he touched the Godhead that may not be touched. Immediately this loosed the string of his tongue (Mark 7:32-37), and opened the clogged doors of his ears. For the very architect of the body itself and artificer of all flesh had come personally to him, and with his gentle voice tenderly opened up his obstructed ears. Then his mouth which had been so closed up that it could not give birth to a word, gave birth to praise him who made its barrenness fruitful. The One who immediately had given to Adam speech without teaching, gave speech to him so that he could speak easily a language that is learned only with difficulty (Genesis 1:27-28). (excerpt from HOMILY ON OUR LORD 10.3)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 35:4-7 guotes St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth-century monk from France, who explained:

Storing the water

The man who is wise . . . will see his life as more like a reservoir than a canal.

We pour ourselves out every day: for our children, for our aging parents, for our coworkers, and for our neighbors. But if we spend all of our time taking care of everyone else, we’ll end up physically exhausted and spiritually depleted.
There’s nothing wrong with taking five or ten minutes each day to soak up the love and mercy of God. There’s nothing wrong with becoming a reservoir instead of a canal. God’s extravagant promises are for you just as much as they are for everyone else.

Friar Jude Winkler understands from Isaiah that the oppressed will be healed and called to live in the Glory of God. The Letter of James inspires the conclusion that Words have Power. Friar Jude notes that Jesus is healing among the pagans who are also sheep without a shepherd.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, notes that the desert fathers and mothers focused more on the how than the what. Their spirituality was very practical: virtue and prayer-based. The Patristic Period emphasized the what—the rational, philosophical, and theological foundations for the young Christian religion. He begins to explore The Patristic Period and the early Eastern theologians’ views on Christ, Trinity, theosis, universal salvation, and hesychasm (prayer of rest).

Alexandria in Egyptian Africa was a primary center for learning and culture across many fields—philosophy, art, medicine, literature, and science—during the Hellenistic and Roman periods (310 BCE–330 CE). The library in Alexandria was probably the largest in the ancient world. Greek, Eastern, Jewish, and Christian thought intersected in this environment, bringing together diverse perspectives and many saints and scholars.

The vision we share as Christian disciples calls us to hear and speak for the anawim. We often stumble like Jesus disciples. We have developed social teaching and theology to guide our discernment.

References


(n.d.). Isaiah chapter 35 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/35
(n.d.). James chapter 2 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/james/2
(n.d.). Mark chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/mark/7
(n.d.). Preferential option for the Poor | Development and Peace. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://www.devp.org/en/cst/preferential-option
(2012, August 27). The Messianic Secret | America Magazine. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://www.americamagazine.org/content/the-word/messianic-secret
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved September 9, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
(n.d.). The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Feast) - Mass Readings and .... Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/
n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 9, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/