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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Homily Archives | |
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Ordinary 23 – B In 1723, several alleged miracles reportedly happened in a Paris cemetery, generating great excitement. Because of these reported miracles, King Louis XV posted a sign on the locked gate that read, “By order of the King, God is hereby forbidden to work any miracles in this place.” With a similar ego, the King went on to say, “I forbid God to work a miracle in any of you.”
What about you; do you
believe in miracles? Do you believe God’s divine power can enter into a
life and bring about a healing, can wipe away a disease, can cure a
cancer, can bring sight to the blind, can make the deaf hear? Or are you
closed to God’s power and divinity working in our human lives? Have you
posted a sign on your heart that reads, “God is forbidden to work any
miracle here?” Maybe your sign is legitimate. You have prayed to God for a miracle that has never come. You feel like God has taken so long to touch your life or the life of a loved one that you have given up on God. As easy as it may be to give up on God, we must never give up, for God never gives up on us. When we feel that God is furthest from us, we should be all the more aware that God is somewhere very close and waiting for us to open up, so that he can touch us and heal us. We should be aware, as well, that this healing might not come in the form of a physical healing but, instead, as a spiritual healing that can only be measured by love and joy. At the heart of this Gospel lies a miracle. The people have seen Jesus working his divine power, and they place their faith in him. They bring to him a man with many problems: he’s deaf, he has a speech impediment, and he’s a beggar. Jesus takes him to a quiet spot by the Sea of Galilee. There he spits and touches the man’s tongue with his healing salve, and the man is able to speak. Jesus then groans a prayer, looks to heaven, and says, “Ephphatha; be opened.” Immediately, the deaf man hears. A miracle happens because this man’s heart opens! Imagine for moment that you are able to go with Jesus to a quiet spot by the Sea of Galilee. Put yourself there. Hear the water, feel the breeze, smell the fresh sea air, see Jesus standing beside you. What miracle would you ask Jesus to work for you? Where would you ask him to touch you and heal you? What would you ask him to look up to heaven and pray to be opened in you? God is unable to work a miracle in us only if we forbid him to do so -- if we hang out a sign that reads “no miracles here.” God’s greatest desire is to work miracles in us. For this to happen, we only have to open ourselves to the divine love of his son, Jesus. God will do anything for us, if we only ask.
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