Isolation and Communication

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“People brought to Jesus a deaf man who had a speech impediment, and they begged Him to lay His hand on him.” The healings in Scripture, the physical healings are often a sign of deeper healings, healings of our soul and spirit. So what is the Holy Spirit saying to us in this passage today, in this healing? And think of the situation of a person, a deaf mute at that time. They didn’t have all the resources that are available today. It’s still very difficult today, but at least we have a lot of resources. We have a very developed sign language and special education and technology that can help, and we have also, you know, like many images and books and ways of communicating through texting and so forth, that weren’t available at that time. So it was even much more isolating. And communication is something that we tend, we can take for granted, the ability to express something, or the ability to hear and understand something. But it’s also, it’s always challenging, not just for those who are experiencing deafness and muteness, but for all of us. Communication, for instance, marriage counseling, they talk about how much communications is a big issue in marriages and in just in almost any human relationship. Have you ever felt that somebody’s not listening to you? Or has anyone ever told you that you weren’t listening? So it’s real common problems. Sometimes it’s hard to express ourselves for one reason or another, and sometimes it’s hard to understand what someone else is wanting to tell us. There can be a language barrier, but it’s not just languages. For instance, take the example of how much our attitudes have been affected by our world. In this world, we learn that we have to be careful about what we say, we can’t just communicate. A child tends to be very open, and what they say, you know, saying things sometimes embarrass the parents, because the child just says it without any filter. And sometimes, as people get older too, they start speaking without any filter. And oh, boy. So we try to be careful, right? We learn to be careful. We have to be guarded. We have to control. We become sometimes suspicious. What is this person maybe going to, how are they going to react? What are they going to do? And sometimes we become hardened too. And we sense that just for survival, we have to be careful about what we say. And sometimes we realize that it’s better to not say what we really think, right? How many times we smile and say something which is not what you’re really thinking, but you realize that if you say what you’re really thinking, it’s going to cause a big problem. So we learn sometimes not to communicate, to purposely not communicate what we’re thinking, sometimes communicate the opposite of what we’re thinking. You know, how does this look? Well, you know, you might say, well, or how do I look? And you might say one thing that’s not what you’re thinking. So even in the best of circumstances, communication is always imperfect. There are some things that we can’t really express, even when we try to express them. Sometimes because we don’t even understand fully ourselves what’s going on, so much less can we put it into words. And some things are even just inexpressible, we wouldn’t even know how to begin trying to say it. So all of those issues are present in this gospel of the man who is deaf and mute. So we all need someone that we can talk to. That’s so important in life. That’s one of the, one of the great services, I think, that we can offer to someone else is just to be a good listener. Now we don’t have to have a degree in psychology or in counseling. I mean, that can be very helpful for certain circumstances, but just someone who is a good listener can be helpful. A good, trusted friend that you know is discreet, that you can open up to. Because sometimes there are things which are confusing, and we don’t understand. It just helps us a whole lot, just to be able to talk to somebody, even if they don’t have all the answers. Just the fact of us being able to express it and talk through it can be very helpful. There’s some things which are very painful, they’re humiliating, they’re embarrassing. So we would want to share it with somebody, but it has to be someone who we can really trust. And there are some things which, on the contrary, are very beautiful and good and sacred, but we feel like we can’t just tell it to anybody, because a lot of people won’t really appreciate or understand what we’re trying to say. And I think that’s an experience that we’re hearing. A lot of people have experiences where they sense maybe something very beautiful and profound from God, but they don’t want to, they feel they can’t tell anybody, because who will believe them. And they even St Faustina; St Faustina, she had one of her, one of the older sisters in the convent, said, “Oh, the Lord would never speak to someone like you.” You know, so, that’s the way a lot of people react, you know, the Lord couldn’t be sharing something that beautiful with you. And so people think, well, you’re just crazy, you’re just imagining this. And so a lot of times there are things that people feel they can’t really share, things that are important, because we need someone who’s really listening, someone who can understand. Because sometimes people are trying to listen, but they just can’t understand. We need someone who has the time. Sometimes there are people who could be a good listeners, but they don’t have the time. I mean, one of the challenges that we’re facing at the mission, is so many people are suddenly contacting us, wanting to share things with us, and they’re good things. It’s just that we’re overwhelmed. Our little community is overwhelmed. We’re just not able to do it. But that’s an important role.  And another thing is sometimes the person is just not there, that they’re too busy, or they’re someplace else, that there’s a person we know who could understand, but they’re just not there. So it’s not easy to have that person that we can really speak to. And so one of the things that this gospel is revealing is that God is that person, who is a good listener, that we can speak to. The Gospel today speaks of how it says, “Jesus took this man 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, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is be opened.” And this very dramatic action of Jesus, is repeated in baptism. The priest does this, or the deacon does this for the child who’s being baptized, with touching his ears and his tongue and saying, “Ephphatha.” Because it’s a privilege that given to us in baptism to be able to communicate with God, to listen and communicate with God, a God who understands. And you know, sometimes someone is trying to listen to us, but they can’t really understand what we’re trying to say. Sometimes we can’t even understand what we’re trying to express. But that’s the extraordinary thing about God, is even when we can’t understand it, or we don’t know how I could express that, He can understand it. St. Paul says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” So it’s interesting, what St Paul says. He doesn’t say so the Holy Spirit gives us a book of prayers. A book of prayers can be helpful, but what does he say? The Holy Spirit intercedes. “The Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words,” with sighs or sometimes it’s translated groanings or moanings too deep for words. So it’s a prayer which is not a long, complicated, long, complicated speech, but it’s sometimes just sign, just groaning, the groaning, the longing, of our soul. And one good thing about God, yeah, I was telling you about how limited we are here is one good thing is, God always has time for you. You never try to talk to God. He never says, Yeah, I’d really love to talk to you, but I just don’t have time for you. Now, I’ve got a lot of other people that take care of and so I do care about you, but sorry, you know, maybe, maybe three weeks from now, at about 5:15, we’ll set up an appointment. That’s a problem you don’t have with God. He always has His day completely clear for you. And so that’s pretty amazing. And not only that, but there’s some people who maybe they’ll listen because they’re very virtuous and very patient, but it’s costing them a lot, right? I mean, they’ve got a lot of other more important things that they could do, or more enjoyable things than listening to us. It’s interesting what Jesus says to Saint Faustina. She says, “The Lord said to me, my daughter, so why do you not tell Me about everything that concerns you, even the smallest details.” How many people would you like to say that to? Tell me about everything that concerns you, even the smallest details. Now you would say, Okay, tell me what you need to tell me, but quickly, you know, let’s get to the point, bottom line. You know, I’ve got other things to do. “Tell me about everything,” and then this is extraordinary thing, He says, “tell me about everything, and I’ll put up with you.” No – He doesn’t say that. He doesn’t say, He doesn’t say, and I’ll put up with you, He says, “and know that this will give Me great joy,” great joy.  So He’s not only saying that He’ll listen. I mean, He’s asking her even to tell Him the smallest detail, but He says it will give Him joy, and not just joy, but great joy. So He’s not just doing this because He’s virtuous and He’s got a lot of patience, this is giving Him great joy. Again, how many people would have that time for you?  

And then it would be giving them great joy to listen to all your little stories and all your little problems and all your little thoughts. Most people wouldn’t, right? Almost nobody would. I mean, you have to love a person a whole lot, but that’s the way the Lord feels about it, that’s what He says. And St Faustina answers, “but Lord, you already know everything.” And He says, “Yes, I do know, but you should not excuse yourself with the fact that I know, but with childlike simplicity,” childlike simplicity, “talk to me about everything, for My ears and heart are inclined to you, and your words are dear to Me.” So the Lord delights in listening to you. Even about little things, it doesn’t have to be about exalted, spiritual, sublime things.  He says even the smallest details, little things, He delights. When, in what case do you delight about hearing even the smallest things? It’s when you really love a person, and so you want to hear everything about them. And that’s not with that many people, right? And so that, but that’s what the Lord is revealing. Then St Faustina says a little bit later, she says, “Jesus listened to these outpourings of my heart with gravity and interest,” and interest. Again, you know, there’s some people who will listen to you, but you can tell that they’re, you know, come on -let’s get the – you know – hurry up. But Jesus listening with interest. And then she says, “As if He knew nothing about them. And this seemed to make it easier for me to talk.” As if He’s learning about this from her, that’s what she says. Because if you’re talking to a person, you can tell they’re really not very interested in what I’m saying. Then that kind of, you can’t think, Well, okay, I better wrap this up pretty quickly. And so that’s, I should take that lesson, my homilies, right? But sure, but if the Lord shows that it’s like He’s learning this from her, it made it easier for her to speak to Him. So one simple thing is that’s very helpful, is to just take time to talk with God, to get things off our chest. And even I would say, and this might surprise some people, but even to complain to God. Jesus says, In this dialog through St Faustina, but it’s one of the dialogs to a suffering soul. He says, “Tell Me My child who has dared to wound your heart, tell Me about everything. Be sincere in dealing with Me. Reveal all the wounds of your heart. I will heal them, and your suffering will become a source of sanctification. My daughter let us talk in detail,” in detail, He says again, “about everything that weighs so heavily upon your heart. Talk to me simply as a friend to a friend.” So He’s saying about things that weigh on your heart, because sometimes you think, Oh, I shouldn’t complain to God. But He’s asking her to talk, or to the soul, to talk about what weighs on their heart, and simply as a friend to a friend, and He talks about that. He says, “I will heal them,” that this, this is a very like a simple form of counseling. And one thing that a counselor, a good counselor, can do is simply be a good listener. And that’s what the Lord is saying. Talk to me about everything that has wounded you. And you know, because when we’re talking to the Lord about it, we’re bringing these things to Him, and He’s always receiving them with love. And so there’s always His loving presence, His loving graces which are being communicated. Because even though we’re talking about something painful, we’re talking to Him about that. And just the fact that we’re in communication with Him, there’s healing graces which flow. So that’s a very simple type of therapy. And how much does the Lord charge per hour? His rates are very good, and so, and He has all the time. And so just talking to Him about all that has wounded us, He says. So just, you know, this prayer doesn’t have to be anything else except true, honest, sincere. He doesn’t say anything else about it. He says again, He doesn’t say, make it brief and try to be coherent, and try to be logical and say it in a reasonable way that I can understand. And try to, you know, try to use words which are well expressed and so forth. None of that. It just says, “Just tell me about what you’re going through.” And even if it’s as St Paul says, even if it’s just groans. St Faustina writes, “When I was somewhat overcome by the fear that I was going to be outside the community for a long time alone,” so afraid that you would be alone, “Jesus said to me,” and so this is an excerpt. He says, “I am pleased that you confide your fears to Me, My daughter,” pleased that you confide your fears to Me. “Speak to Me about,” again He says here, “about everything in a completely simple and human way,” simple and human. He’s not asking for anything complicated or sophisticated, simple and human by this again, He says, “you will give Me great joy. I understand you because I am God man, this simple language of your heart is more pleasing to Me than the hymns composed of My honor. Know My daughter that the simpler your speech is, the more you attract Me to yourself.” So He doesn’t say, I’ll put up with simple speech, but I’d rather have something more sophisticated. He says, the simpler, the better, the more it attracts Him. And so even when what’s bothering us is when we feel God, we’ve been hurt or let down or betrayed by God Himself. And there’s a lot of examples of that in Job and Jeremiah and the Psalms, of people, even Jesus on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned Me?” And so even when it’s God Himself, we feel that has hurt us or let us down. It’s good to talk to Him about that. Or even when we’re having doubts about Him, Lord, I sometimes don’t even know if He really exists because of this and this and this. So just talking to God, even about things that concern Him, is very helpful. You know, there’s so much in our society that is not free, and so much that is controlled, even our speech in so many ways, being more and more censored. You know, people are even being arrested for saying things, saying things which are good and true. And so there’s so much and so many situations in which we’re not free. And even in relationships, we know we have, you know, in most relationships, we realize we have to be careful, because if we say the wrong thing, you know, it causes big problems. And so prayer should be the time that we’re most free. You know, prayer shouldn’t just be a whole long list of things that I have to say, and it’s so long that I just don’t have time for anything, but it’s good to have prayer in which we can just be completely free about whatever we need to say. And that’s very helpful and very necessary. In the message that Our Lord gave one of our friends from Monterey about prayer, the first lesson He gave about prayer was simply about taking time to talk to God and listen to Him. So first of all, just taking time to talk to God, that’s what we’re discussing here. So with God, we should be able to be completely free. With God, we never have to worry about, Oh, should I say that to Him or not say that to Him? Is He going to misunderstand that? Is He going to take this the wrong way? You don’t have to be any concerns about that. There don’t have to be any filters with God. So God wants to be the one, God is the one that we can speak to, but God also wants to find in us someone that He can speak to. And that’s also an even maybe more surprising sign that God also wants to find in you a friend that He can open Himself to. All the Bible is about God wanting to communicate, and you know that communication was broken right at the beginning with the sin of Adam and Eve. But all of scripture is God wanting to communicate, to guide us, but not just to guide us, like not just give us directions and so forth about how to act, but above all, He wants to share his love. He wants to express how much He loves you. He wants to share what’s in His heart. Because when you love someone, you want to share what’s in your heart with them, and He wants to reveal to you who you are to Him. So listening to God doesn’t mean first of all, getting a lot of directions. I mean that that’s important because we need that. We need guidance but there’s something more fundamental than that, and it’s simply learning and receiving God’s love, learning how much He loves you, and something that no word can express. And you know, that’s the great example we have in our Blessed Mother, the one who receives the gift of God. And the gift of God was not just words or guidance or instruction, it was Himself. He gave Himself. And what will He do in this Mass? The Lord gives Himself to us in Holy Communion. And so what, He wants us to do is open our hearts to Him. And I mean, that’s kind of the whole reason for our little Mission of Divine Mercy is to be a community that listens to God, that’s listening to what God is wanting to tell us. All human communication is always mediated, and mediated just means that it has to pass through something, because people can’t read your mind. So you need to express it somehow, by your words, by your facial expressions, by your gestures, maybe by an embrace, by, you know, letters or write to them, or drawings or music or gifts or service, many different ways we have of communicating. And all of that, that’s all those that’s a rich different ways we have of communicating. But still, it’s all imperfect, inadequate. But God doesn’t need any of that. Words can be still helpful. It’s helpful for us to say to the Lord, but He doesn’t need that. He already understands us. And so with Him, we can share, we can share everything, and we can also simply be in silence with Him, because the communication with Him is beyond words. And so when we talk about listening to God, it doesn’t, it’s not means that we’re necessarily going to hear something or feel something. It simply means that we’re trying to be open to God. Now that’s what the word of Jesus today, Ephphatha, be open. Last week, we talked about having a little book, a personal book, about trying to listen to God. So talking and listening. Ephphatha, Be open. And so that’s important in human communications, but it’s always imperfect. But with God, we can be completely open, talking to him with complete honesty and listening to Him. And so today, we ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us for this gift of the Holy Spirit, to help us be open to talking to Him. Because just being open, talking to God can begin to free a lot of barriers, and kind of a lot of the barriers that satan puts in our hearts. Maybe there’s a struggle that we’re having, that we’re kind of afraid to bring to God, and so satan uses that to, like, infect us with it. And just by bringing that struggle, even if it’s not pretty at all, even if it’s an ugly, shameful struggle, just bringing that to the Lord, and it’s also good to bring it in confession, but not just in confession, also in our talking with the Lord, just doing that already begins to bring His healing graces. Ephphatha, be open. Amen.

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Mark 7:31-37