Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 8, 2024
Again 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.”
Have you ever experienced a “God moment” or “God wink”? These are times when something
seems like a coincidence, but it is really God reaching out unexpectedly. These spiritual
intersections can give us sudden clarity, provide peace that things will be okay, or let us
know we’re doing the right thing.
Moments like these can be a timely and comforting reassurance of God’s love and grace, often using others to create these moments, like a friend reaching out through a surprise phone call or a neighbor bringing food when we’re sick. Perhaps God nudges you through the perfect song coming on at just the right time. We can’t explain why or how these things happen, but they have a tremendous impact.
Today, Mark’s Gospel reminds us that “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” We are invited to see our daily lives through this lens, with Christ’s presence in all we do. His perspective is bigger than ours, so we need to trust God is validating Christ’s love in these “God wink” moments.
Being mindful of God moments has made a difference in my life. When our kids were little, we contemplated public vs. parochial school for our children’s education. On Holy Thursday, when our 5-year-old daughter came home from her Catholic kindergarten wanting to wash our feet, we recognized God’s gentle wink that we were on the right path.
God says, “Ephphatha!”—that is, “Be opened!” with our ears, minds, and hearts. Just
like the people in Mark’s Gospel who were seeking him, we need to be receptive when God
takes ordinary life moments and turns them extraordinary. He desperately wants us to know
that with “a mere touch of his hand,” he can heal us, just like he did the deaf man, allowing us
to hear his words, speak his truth, and feel his love today and every day.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, the people begged you to heal the deaf man with a speech impediment. At your touch and your word, he heard and he spoke plainly. In your compassion, Lord Jesus, help me to hear your word and to speak it with conviction. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today, we remember the birth date of the one honored as the “God-bearer.”
Mary’s birth was the first realization of the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. She was born without sin, pure and holy—“full of grace”—to prepare her to bear God’s Son to the world.
Among the saints, only Mary and St. John the Baptist have commemorations on the dates of their births and their deaths (or assumption to heaven, in Mary’s case). These two, above all other saints, heralded and participated in the arrival of our savior.
The birthplace of Mary is not known for certain. One ancient tradition holds that she was born in Nazareth. Another tradition states that she was born in Jerusalem in a neighborhood near the pool of Bethesda. Today there is a church in that neighborhood dedicated to St. Anne, Mary’s mother, and a crypt under that church designates a spot where Mary is believed to have been born. View images from that church in this part of our virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In the account of the first sin in Genesis, Eve was led astray by the figure of the serpent. Immediately upon discovering their sin, God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel” (Gen 3:15).
Because the offspring of the woman lethally strikes at the serpent’s head, this passage is allegorically understood as the final triumph of good over evil. Here is the first promise of a redeemer for fallen humanity, Jesus, and the passage notes he is born of woman, Mary. With her obedience, Mary reverses Eve’s disobedience and brings life to the world through her Son, Jesus.
When Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., arrived at a missionary outpost on the American frontier in northern Indiana in November of 1842, he saw a frozen lake covered in snow. The purity of the scene reminded him of Mary, and he named the university he founded after Our Lady of the Lake: the University of Notre Dame du Lac.
Images of Mary abound on campus, including a depiction of her birth in the mural shown above from the Basilica. Of course, she also appears atop the golden-domed Main Building, where she stands 19 feet high and weighs 4,000 pounds. Relics of Mary, including pieces of her clothes and hair, rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
Mary, Our Lady of the Lake, your obedience reversed Eve’s disobedience and brought life to the world—pray for us!