Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090521.cfm
Today we learn that God shows “no partiality” and that God is not a show off. Jesus, the Son of God, focused on the person, the individual. Jesus’ miracle was not a show of power and might, BUT a blessing and healing for a person loved by God.
Our Scriptures want us to adopt God’s point of view, each person is a unique being created by God for a special purpose. Each one of us is an extraordinary gift from God to the world.
Isaiah paints a dramatic and majestic poetic image.
“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.”
WOW – what a vision, what a beautiful image, one that speaks of wholeness, perfection God’s grace and care to the very depths of the human heart. St. James reminds us to “show no partiality”, living that principle is much more difficult than we realize.
Consider this scenario you have planned for months to attend your daughters first piano recital. The morning of her recital your boss calls you into the office and says “I would like you to come to dinner with a top client of ours tonight at Saucon Valley Country Club. Now the question of partiality hits home, what do you do. Crush your daughter and not attend her recital or tell your boss thank you very much, but no thanks and miss an opportunity to impress the client and your boss. Partiality takes many forms, and we are called to do what Jesus would do in our situation.
The Gospel reminds us of our Baptismal Promises, but most of us don’t remember our Baptism. We were the center of attention, but we were very young.
As a deacon I have the privilege of celebrating the sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony. It is a humbling gift to Baptize and to witness Marriages for the Church.
These two Sacraments share some characteristics:
1. Both are sacraments
2. Both are ongoing [one for life Matrimony; one for Eternity Baptism]
3. Both are life changing
4. Both give us God’s grace
When I celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism, during my homily I share several pastoral thoughts and several stories. I want to share one of those stories with you this morning, it was a favorite of Pope John Paul I [my source in The Vatican told me will be beatified sometime in 2022]:
Michelangelo Story
One day when Michelangelo was working in his studio (with his hammer and chisel) getting ready to create a masterpiece & a friend walked into his studio and said, “Michelangelo what a gift to be able to carve a statue from that big chunk of marble”. Michelangelo responded, “No, not at all, the statue is already in the marble all I do is draw it out.”
The same is true for each person we meet they have good in them, good that God put in there, and we have to find that good, and draw it out. That is what good parents, good married couples – what good Christians do each day.
Mark in the Gospel shows us how in an unpretentious manner Jesus heals the deaf man.
You and I can heal and maybe this story about Joe Torre can show us how. On a stifling afternoon in Philadelphia … New York Yankees manager Joe Torre was walking through the players’ entrance when a middle-aged man called his name….
Torre stopped and the man said, “I met you almost 30 years ago … I was in high school and wanted to drop out, my parents ask you to talk to me one day because they thought I might listen to a ballplayer. They were right, I’m a lawyer now, I just wanted to tell you thanks.”
Torre took a couple of steps and was stopped by a younger man, who said, “Twenty years ago I had cancer, my doctors thought it was terminal, at the time you were with the Mets. You visited me and gave me a pep talk, “I never forgot it…. I realized I never said thank you.”
Torre later said, “It makes you realize what all of us can do…. A word here, a pat on the back there, a phone call …. We have tremendous effect on people.”
[William Bausch, 60 More Seasonal Homilies, p138-39]
By living our Baptismal Promises, we may help one, two, ten or more people and we may not find out who we helped like Joe Torre did, but we will definitely find out when Jesus embraces us and thanks us for helping His grace reach the person who needed it.
May your Ears be opened, and your Will enflamed with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, so that your life leads others to God.
For a few minutes, in silence, think about the glimpses of GOD you have been privileged to receive or witness and thank God for them.
May God Be Praised.
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