The healing of Jesus

Sunday, September 27th 2020 | By Rev. Michael P. Hanifin

This Sunday’s readings at Mass offer us a message of hope — God is with us and wants to heal us. May this message come ablaze in our hearts so that we might live with unwavering faith.

The Gospel presents us with the story of the profound physical healing of a deaf man with a speech impediment. Jesus went into the district of the Decapolis of the ten cities – around the Sea of Galilee – where people brought him to Jesus and begged for his healing. Jesus took the man off by himself, touched his ears and his tongue, then proclaimed, Ephphatha that is “Be opened!” Immediately the man was healed, and his impediment was removed.

This story in our Gospel overwhelms us with comfort and peace because we have a compassionate God who knows our physical needs. Yet if we reflect further on this reading, we see that God uses this moment of physical healing as an opportunity to restore something much deeper—our souls.

With the busy and hectic days that we live it is easy to become blind and deaf to the presence of God in our lives. We miss out on the countless opportunities to see God working in our day-to-day moments — through our loved ones, our community, or even in the stranger we encounter. We miss the quiet voice of Jesus in our hearts telling us to choose Him instead of sin, respond in love instead of anger, or to care for someone else in that moment instead of caring for ourselves.

Physical healing is great, but we all need some level of spiritual healing as well. The scriptures remind us that God is with us and longs to heal us. This week, I invite each of us to ask the Lord to heal our souls and transform our hearts. Let us pray that our eyes and our ears might “be open” to workings, words, and promptings of God in our lives.