I suppose that there are many reasons that we might not be able to hear something.  Sometimes, it’s us, and sometimes what we are trying to hear, or maybe who we are trying to hear, that maybe isn’t audible.  As someone who listens to dozens of different voicemail messages a day, from many different people, some day I’m going to write a book on how to be more understandable on the telephone, or at least on voicemail.  I’ve heard it all.  And I’ve learn to decipher a lot of messages that just a few years ago, I wouldn’t have understood.  I’m waiting for the FBI or CIA to call me, and offer me a job deciphering voicemail messages for the government.  There are some people who talk too fast.  Some people mumble.  Some people speak so softly, especially those who are upset or who are maybe uncomfortable about the subject that they are leaving a message about.  Many times it is hard to hear voicemails.  And sometimes it is our own fault.  Maybe we aren’t paying attention.  Maybe we are distracted.  Maybe we get interrupted.  Maybe the sound equipment isn’t working correctly, or we don’t have the phone turned up to where it should be.  Then again, maybe its our ears getting older.  Who knew that they were serious about listening to Van Halen and Aerosmith that loud?  Sometimes I think that there are a couple whole generations of us who are going to be deaf.  We all know what it’s like to NOT be able to hear.  We miss out.  We don’t get the message.  We feel out of the loop.  Most of us don’t know what it’s like to be completely deaf.  It must be very isolating.

       Today in our Gospel Jesus heals a man who is both deaf and mute.  By this point in St. Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is doing a lot of healing.  People are bringing their sick and the suffering from all over Galilee to Jesus.  And He’s healing them.  This has become a fairly regular occurrence by this time in the story.  But then Jesus encounters this man with a speech impediment.  He is both deaf and mute.  And this man is trapped inside his own, little world.  Jesus has great concern for him.  This man isn’t like everybody else.  Jesus takes him off by himself and speaks to him alone.  Jesus heals him, and his whole life is opened up to new possibilities.  He can hear and he can speak clearly, and he has this intimate experience of God’s love for him and the mighty power of God opening up his life.  One word from this God-made-Flesh, “Ephphatha!” is all it takes to change this man forever.  He is no longer isolated.  He is no longer out of the loop.  He is no longer missing out on anything.

         We come here this weekend, and we’re NOT deaf.  We can speak and hear freely.  What’s the point of this Gospel text for all the rest of us?  Well, there’s good news here for everybody!  You see, the problem may very well NOT be our ears or our tongues.  Many times our deafness today is in our hearts or even in our minds.  The same powerful God wants us to experience His love and concern for us, as He opens us up to what’s really going on.  You see, we can be spiritually deaf.   We can be muted in our prayers or in our praise of God.  We can cut ourselves off from God so entirely, that we might as well be deaf or mute.  Millions of people in our world today find themselves in exactly that situation.  And God wants to heal them.  God wants to take away their deafness.  And many times, God wants to use all of us to accomplish this miracle.  Today, we can help others hear and experience God in their lives.  We can help to find their voice in calling out to Him, in praising Him, and in witnessing to Him.  But we can’t do it, if we persist in our being deaf and mute.  God needs us!  Do we have any inkling what that means?  We have the opportunity to not only go along with God, but to actually work for Him, to be His partner in building the Kingdom of God.  But you can’t build an eternal kingdom if you’re deaf and mute.  And I’m not talking about in your ears or with your tongue!  There are plenty of people doing incredible things for God’s Kingdom without being able to hear or talk physically.  It’s those who are deaf and mute in their hearts and souls that Jesus is worried about today.  How’s your heart?  How’s your soul?  Are you working with God?  Or are you oblivious to this powerful God, that you are pretending to ignore?

         We’ve got to get this right.  God wants to help us.  He wants to heal us.  Are we going to let Him???

        May God bless us today,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

                                                   St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!