Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
«My people heard not my voice, and Israel obeyed me not; so I gave them up to the hardness of their hearts; they walked according to their own counsels».
«If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, quickly would I humble their enemies; against their foes I would turn my hand».
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)
