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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (Gen 3:1-8): Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made. The serpent asked the woman, «Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?». The woman answered the serpent: «We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die’». But the serpent said to the woman: «You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil».

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Responsorial Psalm: 31
R/. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered. Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, «I confess my faults to the Lord», and you took away the guilt of my sin.

For this shall every faithful man pray to you in time of stress. Though deep waters overflow, they shall not reach him.

You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
Versicle before the Gospel (Cf. Ac 16:14): Alleluia. Open our hearts, o Lord, to listen to the words of your Son. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mk 7:31-37): 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.”

“He has done all things well”

Fr. Joan MARQUÉS i Suriñach (Vilamarí, Girona, Spain)

Today the Gospel presents us with a miracle of Jesus: he restored the hearing and untied the tongue of a deaf man. The people were amazed and said: “He has done everything well” (Mk 7:37).

This is the biography of Jesus written by his contemporaries. A short and complete biography. Who is Jesus? He is the one who has done everything well. In the double sense of the word: in what and in how, in substance and in manner. He is the one who has done only good deeds, and the one who has done good deeds well, in a perfect, finished manner. Jesus is a person who does everything well, because he only does good deeds, and what he does, he leaves finished. He does not give anything halfway; and he does not wait to finish it later.

You also, try to leave things completely ready now: prayer; dealings with family and other people; work; the apostolate; diligence in forming yourself spiritually and professionally; etc. Be demanding with yourself, and be demanding also, gently, with those who depend on you. Do not tolerate shoddiness. It is displeasing to God and annoys your neighbor. Do not adopt this attitude simply to look good, or because this way is the most beneficial, even humanly speaking; but because God is not pleased with bad works or “good” works done poorly. Sacred Scripture states: “The Rock—how faultless are his deeds, how right all his ways!” (Dt 32:4). And the Lord, through Moses, tells the People of Israel: “You shall not offer one that has any blemish, for such a one would not be acceptable on your behalf” (Lev 22:20). Ask for the maternal help of the Virgin Mary. She, like Jesus, also did everything well.

Saint Josemaría offers us the secret to achieve this: “Do what you must and be in what you do.” Is this the way you act?

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you.” (Saint Augustine)

  • “There is an inner closure that affects the person’s inmost self, which the Bible calls the “heart”. It is this that Jesus came to “open”, to liberate, so as to enable us to live to the full our relationship with God and with others.” (Benedict XVI)

  • “(…) In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures. He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover, for he himself is the meaning of all these signs.” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 1151)

Pope Francis has departed to the Father's house.

We pray for his well-deserved eternal rest!

Thank you, Francis!