6th August Trinity, 2011, Sickness of Sin

Mark 7, 31-37

6th Trinity August

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre, he went through the country around Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and who spoke with difficulty, and asked him to lay his hands on him. And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphata, be opened.” His hearing was opened and the impediment of his tongue was removed and he could speak properly. And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more they widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event, and said, “He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak.

6^th August Trinity

August 28, 2011

Mark 7: 31-37

A lump of clay is just a blob of matter. But under the hands of a skilled potter, it can take on an astonishingly intricate form and function.

A part of the sickness of sin is that our bodily constitution, our mortal clay, dulls our ability to truly see, to truly hear, to truly perceive. Through his intimate touch, Christ interacts with the deaf mute like a potter shaping clay. He touches his ears and tongue. He makes him into a vessel as He speaks the fiery word: Ephphata—be opened. The man is now free to receive, to contain and to interact with the world—just as God intended.

The Act of Consecration of Man is a place where we take ourselves aside to be healed by Christ. We ask that our lips be cleansed by Christ, that His word flow through our lips. We pray that our prayer reach God’s ear.

Thus does Christ’s healing, His touch, remove our dull impediments, He opens us to conversation not only with the earthly world, but also with the divine. And the angels rejoice, for He changes all things to the good. We who are deaf He makes to hear; and we who are speechless, to speak, just as God intended.

www.thechristiancommunity.org 

6th August Trinity 2012, Mind Deaf, Heart Sick, Soul Mute

Mark 7, 31-37

6th Trinity August

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre [tir], he went through the country around Sidon [si’don] to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and who spoke with difficulty, and asked him to lay his hands on him. And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphata, be opened.” His hearing was opened and the impediment of his tongue was removed and he could speak properly. And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more they widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event, and said, “He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak.

6^th August Trinity

August 26, 2012

Mark 7: 31-37

The ear is formed in a spiral. Sounds whirl in ever tightening circles through the inner organ of hearing. This movement is an incarnational one; it generates words; it generates thought and meaning, which can then spiral outward again as creative speech.

The deaf mute is someone who is hindered in this process. He can neither take in words and their meaning, nor create them. Such a hindrance also cuts one off from one’s community. It tends to generate fears and suspicions in the soul. It hinders the exercising of our highest human function: objective thought, creative speech. Even without an organic problem, we can be mind deaf, heart sick, soul mute.

Christ’s healing consists of an intimate quality of touch. With His fiery words, ‘Be opened’, he opens the man’s ears, loosens his tongue, opens his soul. He restores to him his full human capacities—open senses, open heart and mind, open speech. He goes from being imprisoned within himself to being able to spiral outward again. He is healed of his illness.

We too suffer from “the sickness of sin”, the sickness of the human condition. But even this illness is there to create new capacities. In the words of John O’Donohue,

When the reverberations of shock subside in you,

May grace come to restore you to balance.

May it shape a new space in your heart

To embrace this illness as a teacher

Who has come to open your life to new worlds.

May you use this illness

As a lantern to illuminate

The new qualities that will emerge in you.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] John O'Donohue, "A Blessing for a Friend on the Arrival of Illness", In To Bless the Space between Us, p. 60

6th August Trinity 2013, Creative Words

Mark 7, 31-37

6th Trinity August

As he was again leaving the region around Tyre, he went through the country around Sidon to the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the region of the ten cities of the Decapolis. They brought to him one who was deaf and who spoke with difficulty, and asked him to lay his hands on him. And he led him apart from the crowds by himself, laid his finger in his ears, and moistening his finger with saliva, touched his tongue, and looking up to the heavens, sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphata, be opened.” His hearing was opened and the impediment of his tongue was removed and he could speak properly. And he commanded them not to say anything to anyone. But the more he forbade it, the more they widely they proclaimed it. And the people were deeply moved by this event, and said, “He has changed all to the good: the deaf he makes to hear and the speechless to speak.

6^th August/September Trinity

Sept 1, 2013

Mark 7, 31 – 37

As we get older our hearing often declines. It is as though our ears close a bit. We fail to accurately pick up what was spoken to us. And so we get a false message. And to others our response is inappropriate. 

In a sense we are all deaf. Even if our hearing is perfect, it can be that our hearts are closed, so that we don’t pick up what is really being said.  Our hearts are closed, often in self-defense, against the overwhelming voices of pain and suffering around us. We may rarely hear the inspirations our angels are whispering to us.

It is difficult for us to speak in truth. Our words wield an enormous creative power, for good or for ill. The poet makes us aware of their power; he says,

When I pronounce the word Future,

the first syllable already belongs to the past.

When I pronounce the word Silence,

I destroy it.

When I pronounce the word Nothing,

I make something no nonbeing can hold.[1]

Christ came to open our hearing, to open our hearts, so that our words have the power to create. ‘Be opened’, he says.  ‘Hear my voice in your heart’.  When you break your silence with love, you create a future which no non-being can destroy.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Wislawa Szymborska, “ Three Oddest Words”.

5th August Trinity 2007, Christ Light

5th Trinity August

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God.

5^th August Trinity

August 19, 2007

Luke 18: 35 – 43

  

In deep darkness, the world seems to shrink down to a few feet. At dawn the world bursts open and is recreated for us. Pictures begin fill the air and spring to life. The light re-creates the world and heals our separation from the world and from the light itself.

 

Christ, the Sun God, came to shed His light, to create His light in the darkness of earth existence. He came to bring His creative light to human beings, for we had all become blinded by earthly darkness. But fortunately we could still hear.

The blind man near Jericho hears the crowd of those around Christ. He inquires and then cries out. Despite all resistance, he connects himself with the Light, puts himself at the mercy of the Light that heals, the light that elevates, the light that reveals. His directed will, his trust and his faith, working in the Light, bring about the healing of his separation from the world. For him Dawn breaks; he can look up and see – Christ, the Sun God, walking, enlightening, and healing here on earth.     

The seasonal prayer speaks of the Healing God who illuminates the world. This Spirit created the world in all its order, form and beauty. We pray that we may see the evidence of this spirit in the world. We pray that we may grasp the Healing Spirit and let it work within ourselves, illuminating what and how we see. We pray that the Spirit Light enlighten what we know. Aware that we are subject to earthly darkness, we pray that the Light of Spirit approach us, shining in the world, to shine on us, in us, out of us, in all our soul’s ways.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

5th August Trinity 2008,The Working of the Divine

5th Trinity August

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God.

5^th August Trinity

August 24, 2008

Luke 18, 35 – 43

Incidents often have several layers to them. On the surface they may seem simple enough. But opening the layers reveals a richness of complexity.

Today’s short reading seems simple. A blind man asks for and receives his sight. But there are further rich layers to be mined.

First of all, this takes place near Jericho. Jericho is the place where the Hebrews, faithful to divine instruction, conquered the city. They circled around it for seven days, blowing their ram’s horns and shouting so that the city wall collapsed (Joshua 6). Out of this incident there also emerges one of Jesus’ possible female ancestors[1]. Today’s reading plays out against this historic backdrop of faith and sound.

The man, though blind, is not cut off from his surroundings; he perceives much – he hears; he is attentive, even curious. When a crowd goes by, he takes the initiative to ask what is happening. When he discovers that the well-known Jesus is in the crowd, he amplifies his initiative. He cries out in a loud voice, addressing Jesus as the son of David, hinting at the hope that because Jesus belongs to the house of David, He could indeed be the expected Messiah. He asks for mercy, that is, for compassionate consideration of the imprisonment of his blindness.

Immediately he meets with an adversarial reaction from the leadership. He is threatened and told to be quiet. But he does not let pressure or fear overcome his desire to connect with Christ. He cries out all the louder.

Jesus, meanwhile, doesn’t just storm over and cure him. He stops. He stills Himself. He invites, by having the blind man led over to Him. The blind man must be courageous and walk toward the one he cannot see. And then Christ asks the blind man what it is that he wants. In effect Christ lets the blind man determine his own outcome by having him define what it is that he wants.

And the man’s reply bears looking at closely: “Lord, that I may look up and see again.” Luke 18:41[2] He is asking, in effect, asking not only for everyday eyesight. He is also saying, ‘May I raise my eyes to the heavens, to the divine, and once again perceive that to which I am now blind. May the evolution of my being move forward again. ’

Jesus’ answer is “Receive your sight again.” Luke 18:42. He doesn’t say, ‘I have cured you’ or even, ‘You are cured.’ It is as though He holds out to him his sight, which inwardly the blind man must receive and accept. And then Jesus makes it clear that what lives in the man’s soul, his trust, his faith, the power for healing that already lives in him is what the man himself has awakened through his interaction with Christ. “And in that moment his eyes were opened.” Luke 18:43 He looked up and saw again.

After this climax of healing it is easy to overlook the important line that follows, for it says that the blind man then got up and followed Christ, and that it is this that reveals the working of the divine within the human being. The working of the divine in the human being – initiative despite resistance; the desire and movement toward evolving again, trust in the power of healing, following Christ – this is the revelation of the working of the divine in the human being. This is Christ in all of us.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] She is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. There are two Rahabs: Joshua 5, Rahab, an inhabitant who cooperated with the Hebrew spies and subsequently joined the Hebrew people. Another Rahab is the only other Rahab in the OT - the mother of Boaz - definitely in the family tree. 

[2] Literal translation of the Greek anablepso

5th August Trinity 2010, Elevating Vision

5th Trinity August

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God.

5^th August Trinity

August 22, 2010

Luke 18: 35-43

Christ came to heal the world; for humankind is suffering the ill effects of its separation from God. At the same time, God has a deep respect for our freedom.

The blind man in today’s reading asks persistently for Christ’s compassion. Yet even though the man’s need is obvious, Jesus asks him what he wants Jesus to do for him. The man’s answer—that I may look up and see again—is mysteriously formulated. He doesn’t say, ‘Give me back my sight’; nor “that I look around and see again”, but ‘that I look up and see’. There is some hint that the man wants not only to have his vision returned, but that he intends to elevate his vision.

And Jesus’ answer is equally mysterious: ‘through your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.’ The power has awakened in him for his own healing, and perhaps for the healing of others as well. It doesn’t just come from outside. It comes from his having invited the Christ-power to enter body and soul. At that moment he looks up, he sees—Christ, the activator of healing for all mankind. And he rises up and follows Him.

We too suffer from blindness, the blindness of the everyday. We too can ask that our vision be elevated.

In the Act of Consecration of Man, the communion service, we hear Christ’s voice in the Gospel. We ask for the healing of the sickness of sin; we look up and see Christ as He appears, clothed in bread and wine. He brings us Himself as the healing medicine for the sickness that has come from our separation from the divine realms. Seeing Him, we can take Him in, walk with Him, follow Him.

May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.

May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.

May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.

May you respond to the call of your gift and find the courage to follow its path.[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] John O'Donohue, in Anam Cara

5th August Trinity 2011, Healing Blindness

5th Trinity August

Luke 18, 35-43

It happened as he approached Jericho: a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging. Hearing the crowd going by, he wanted to know what was happening, and they told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried out in a loud voice: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those leading the way threatened him and wanted him to be quiet. But he cried all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and had him led to him. And Jesus said to him, “What do you want that I should do for you?”

He said to him, “Lord, that I may look up and see again.”

And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Through your faith and your trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you.” ( your faith has healed you)

In that moment his eyes were opened. He followed Him and thus revealed the working of the divine within the human being--and all who saw it praised God.

5^th August Trinity

Healing the Blind Man, Duccio

August 21, 2011

Luke 18:35-43

Our souls are formed by our early experiences on earth. The things we saw, the things we heard, and the feelings of pleasure or pain they aroused, became our deepest formative memories. In a certain sense, they set the direction for the course of our lives. For when we encounter situations that arouse the same feelings, we remember and react the way we did then.

Surely the blind man had been taught to obey his elders. As a child he would have been punished for not obeying. His natural reaction to those in authority who try to quiet him would have been fear of punishment.

But the presence of Christ allows him to overcome his instinctive, habitual fear, and to beg Christ for healing. He calls out not once but twice. When Christ asks him what he wants, he says, ‘that I may look up and see again’.

At one level what he is asking for is that he may continue, as he does in that moment, to rise above his engrained level of fear, to assess the world in a different way. He is asking to see the world with open loving trust, like a child, the way he did before fear entered his way of seeing. ‘May I look up and see again’ –may I see a world of goodness, a world full of harmony and meaning. May I look up and see God’s working in the world.

And Christ answers: Through your faith and trust, the power for healing has been awakened in you. The trust that already lives in your soul is the seed of a new way of seeing, a new revelation. Your trust is the basis for healing, for changing your old blind way of seeing the world.’

The blind man’s eyes are opened. And what does he see? He sees Christ Jesus, God’s Son, in the world. And those looking on see it too—the revelation of the working of the divine within the human being.