A man walked into a bar and he noticed a guy sitting at the bar with a banana in his ear.
The man thought to himself: “Should I tell him? No. It is none of my business…
But - he could not help it… so, he approached the guy
“Sir, you have a banana in your ear”. The guy said: “What?” The man repeated: “You have a banana in your ear.”
The guy said: “Young man, you have to speak louder, I have a banana in my ear.” (I will connect that to my homily later.)
When Jesus healed the deaf man, the man’s speech impediment was also cured. The inability to hear and the inability to speak frequently go together. There is a spiritual parallel here. Until we have heard the truth, we cannot live by the truth; therefore, we cannot speak and proclaim the truth…
We are all called to be great witnesses to the truth – to the love of God… to the goodness of God - in spite of what is happening in the world… in spite of the darkness and sufferings we experience or see.
Pope Francis said: "In these dark months of the pandemic, let us listen to the Lord as he invites us to begin anew and never lose hope." "It is always possible to begin anew, because there is a new life that God can awaken in us in spite of all our failures."
Listening is one of the most psychologically courageous things we ever do in our own normal personal relationships… simply because listening – real listening – involves seriously entertaining the ideas of the other person. That entails the risk of having to change our minds in response to what we hear.
That is true in our own personal relationship with God. If we truly listen to God, it leads us to repentance; it leads us to conversion of mind and heart – metanoia.
We all want to hear good news. The word Gospel means Good News. So, if the Good News of our salvation through Jesus Christ is really good news, if that is the truth, why are not people hearing it? Why are they not listening? What is it that makes people deaf to the goodness and mercy of God – therefore – people are being mute and not being able to speak of God’s love, grace and mercy …. not only with words but by their very lives?
The past several Sundays, we reflected on Jesus as the Bread of Life and that in our Eucharistic celebration, we become what we partake – we become the Body of Christ – The question is: Did we listen to what God was telling us?
Are we now being bread of life for others… Are we also the source or instruments of hope, courage and strength for others… especially in these hard times…
Do people see the transforming impact of going to Mass and receiving the Eucharist in your life? …that they want to have what you have.
We live in a very secular and even atheistic society. Kids are growing up with very limited exposure to the Scripture and the teachings of the Church… and what makes it worse - the parents do not send their kids to religious education…and on top of that - the parents do not talk to their kids about their faith at home…
So kids grow up and grow old – as the parents do – with all due respect - without good understanding of their faith…. I am not talking about just understanding religion – but understanding what it means to have faith – to have a personal relationship with God and His presence in our lives
Just a Side Note: Here at St. Catherine’s, we have a great religious education program we are proud of. Please take advantage of them and encourage your kids, particularly those going to public schools, to attend religious education. Registrations are still being accepted for the coming program year. (End of my side note)
Some people are deaf to the good news – the Word of God - because they are not in the habit of reading, reflecting and meditating on the Scriptures. As St. Jerome said: “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
On the other hand, there are people who also are deaf to the good news because they think they got it all figured out. We hear people say: ‘O, I have been to so many Bible Studies; I have read the Bible so many times…front to back…I have been to Catholic schools and Catholic universities; have been to so many retreats, etc. - and so, they think they already got it all figured out about God and everything about the mystery of our faith.
They are like the scribes and Pharisees who were deaf to the voice of God and were blind to the true presence of God – standing right in front of them, right before their eyes, in their midst. They failed to recognize Jesus because of their prejudiced pre-conceived idea of what the messiah should be like and how God works.
Some of us are deaf to the good news because they refuse to hear…. with fingers in their ears… so to speak…like the guy with a banana in his ear.
This is the most difficult of deafness of all to cure. It is NOT the inability to hear; it is NOT the lack of opportunity to hear; it is the refusal to hear.
Some people have selective hearing – they hear only what they want to hear – in other words – we call them - Cafeteria Catholics – those who pick and choose and obey only certain teachings of Christ and His Church – whatever suits or fits their lifestyle and preferences.
Some people refuse to hear the challenge of the Gospel because they think they might have to change, and change for them is unbearably painful and they do not want to give up their bad habits or attachments
They are afraid that if they get any closer to Christ and live by His teachings – it will take the fun out of life… they will miss out on the “good” things in life. They cannot be any farther from the truth. What they fail to realize is that Life in Christ – having an intimate personal relationship with Christ – always listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit - actually leads to true joy, lasting peace and happiness and fullness of life… regardless of the circumstances surrounding one’s life.
Let me end with this story: There was a young girl, wearing ragged clothes, barefooted. Her companions were making fun of her. “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?” They taunted her. “If God loves you, why doesn’t God take better care of you? Why doesn’t God tell someone to give you a pair of new shoes, nicer clothes, better place to stay, enough food, so you do not go hungry?” The girl seemed puzzled for a moment. Then, with tears in her eyes, she replied, “I think God does tell people. But they are not listening.
My brothers and sisters in Christ – God continues to speak to us in so many ways. Are we listening?
The deaf man in today’s Gospel represents all of us, all believers. Apart from the grace of God, we are all deaf, to God’s word.
May the Lord break open our deafness so that we can truly be attentive to those whom the Lord has placed in our lives
Using the words prayed over us at our own baptism:
May the Lord Jesus who made the deaf hear and the mute speak, grant that we may receive His word with our ears and profess the faith with our lips, to the glory and praise of God, our Father. Amen.
Ephphatha! Be opened!
