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Colossians 1:24 – 2:3

Brothers and sisters:
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his Body, which is the Church,
of which I am a minister
in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me
to bring to completion for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.
But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
It is he whom we proclaim,
admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
For this I labor and struggle,
in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you
and for those in Laodicea
and all who have not seen me face to face,
that their hearts may be encouraged
as they are brought together in love,
to have all the richness of assured understanding,
for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The Word of the Lord.

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“For I want you to know how great a struggle I am having for you,” Paul says in our first reading to the Colossians.

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What’s causing Paul such agony?

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He wants nothing more than to journey to Colossae to support these early Christians, who are struggling in their faith. 

But Paul’s stuck in prison, chained to the floor. Imagine how frustrated he must be.

He also fears his own death is near. Although he’s a heroic man, nobody looks forward to a torturous death.

There’s a chance that Paul might be spared if he renounces his faith. Certainly, Satan – and the Roman Emperor Nero – would want nothing more than that. Having Paul deny Jesus would be like breaking the end off of a spear; the early Church would’ve been devastated.

But Paul will not give up. He runs the race of life to the finish and keeps the faith. His courage and his faith – so evident in his writings – become his legacy.

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So, what can we learn from Paul’s final days?

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There are some things in life that we cannot control.

In Paul’s case, while he was imprisoned, all he could do was pray and leave the rest up to God.

At times, that’s all we can do, as well; pray and leave the rest up to God.

Secondly, Paul knew his life was bigger than himself; he shaped an entire generation of Christians. Similarly, we must see beyond ourselves, trusting that our faith influences others, whether or not we realize it.

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Saint Paul, priest and martyr, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Saint Paul in Prison, Rembrandt (2) Aleteia (3) Overwhelming Pride, WordPress

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Gospel:

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis. 
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd. 
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A few weeks ago, I saw a delivery driver coming to drop off a package here at church.

Instead of coming to the office, however, he was heading towards the main doors of the church. So, I went outside to grab his attention.

After a few attempts of saying, “Sir! Sir! Sir!” I became increasingly frustrated, thinking he was ignoring me. So, I started walking towards him. When he turned around and saw the look on my face, he apologetically signaled that he was deaf.

My heart sank. I was quick to judge. Humbled. Embarrassed. 

That moment made me consider how difficult it must be to be deaf, because nobody can immediately recognize your condition. You have to interact with a deaf person – hopefully in a kinder manner than I did – before you realize they cannot hear you.

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus does more than heal a deaf man. He shows great compassion, something this man was often denied.

To be deaf in the first century was like a scarlet letter; people associated it with sin. You were deaf because you were a sinner. God was punishing you.

Today we know that isn’t the case. But you can imagine how unfairly this man must’ve been treated by others his whole life.

While Jesus could’ve easily healed him from a distance, he pulled him aside, and touched the most wounded parts of his life, literally digging his finger into this man’s ear and spitting on his tongue.

Touching the source of this man’s pain, Jesus looks up to the heavens, groans, and cries out, “Ephphatha!” 

Be opened. 

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This is one of only three scenes in the Gospels where Jesus is recorded speaking in his native tongue, Aramaic.

The second time comes when he’s standing next to parents who’ve just lost their daughter. Moved with grief, Jesus touches the dead girl and cries out, “Talitha kum!” 

“Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

Like the deaf man, instantly, she’s healed.

These two scenes – the pain of a deaf man and the death of a little girl – struck a chord in Jesus so deeply that his words were never translated.

When is the final time we hear Jesus speaking in his native tongue?

While hanging from the Cross. There, he takes on the pain of every human being – not just the pain of a deaf man or a young girl’s family. Carrying all of this weight, he cries out:

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” 

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

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When we look at what’s happened in the world this week – from Afghanistan, to Haiti, to the wildfires, to the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ida – so many have cried out with similar words, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

Our world is in dire need of healing.

Physically, homes, businesses, and entire communities must be rebuilt. Beneath the physical destruction, though, is the emotional pain of loss, something that everyone feels from time to time.

Yet like the man who was deaf, we can conceal what burdens us most. 

Nobody walks around with a t-shirt, saying: Deaf. Cancer. Broken inside. Difficult marriage. Addict. Frazzled. Doubting. Financially unstable. Insecure. Or, lonely.

But if we allow Jesus to pull us aside, and dig his finger into our wounds, he will surely say, “Ephphatha!”

Be opened!

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How we wish that our healing were as immediate as it was for the man in the Gospel. 

But, remember how his healing started: it was the community who brought him to Jesus. Without them, he’d be unaware that Jesus was passing by; without them, this man would still be isolated and deaf.

May we bring one another to Jesus – in prayer and through our actions – so that everyone can experience those gracious words:

“Ephphatha.”

Be opened.

Be healed.

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Image credits: (1) 121 Captions (2) Ephphatha, Thomas Davidson (3) Crucifixion, Peter Paul Rubens (4) John1010abundantlife.blogspot.com

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Gospel: Luke 5: 33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning in a time warp. Suddenly, you were living in the Stone Age.

You’ve become a hunter-gatherer who has to cook all of your food over an open fire. You’re living in a tent with no widows or a/c. Coffee, hot showers, deodorant, and hair driers are non-existent.

Life is suddenly very simple.

I’m sure we’d be miserable!

Thank God we’ve made advances over the centuries in science, technology, and medicine. Otherwise, life would be pretty rough.

Change can be good thing.

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This is what the Lord is saying in the Gospel.

“No one pours new wine into old wineskins… Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.”

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You and I are being invited to see St. Pius X as a fresh wine skin – making us the new wine.

We have to think creatively about ways to engage new and future parishioners, both in-person and online.

We need minds and hearts open to technology; open to meeting new people; open to new leadership; new opportunities; and new programs.

We should also re-consider our own role in the parish. Can we try new things? New ministries?

Instead of sticking to the comfortable mentality of, “that’s the way things have always been,” or, “that’s always been his or her job,” perhaps we can step up.

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Just as life would be miserable if we were transported into the Stone Age, so nobody wants our parish to regress. 

Rather, the opposite. We are all new wine being poured into a fresh wine skin.

Come, Holy Spirit.

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Image credits: (1) ChristInScripture.com (2) Society of the Precious Blood (3) Trinity Baptist Church, Senior Adult Weekly Devotional