"And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed..." (Mark 7:35)
Let's get this out of the way right at the top: women think that men don't listen. You hear this a lot when couples are arguing, but priests aren't immune from this either. I come from a family of very talkative women, and all you have to do is ask any of them the simple question, "How are you?" and you will get a very lengthy response which is inevitably followed up by the question, "Are you listening to me?" Cause you see, since they have monopolized the conversation and haven't allowed you to utter a word, they don't think you're listening to them. Ok, maybe I'm trivializing communication between men and women just a tad, but it is extremely important in any relationship. The question of whether or not we're listening, as annoying as it may be, is actually a valid one because if we aren't listening we cannot respond. Such is the case with our relationship with the Lord, he has so much to tell us, so much to for us to do, but we turn a deaf ear and only listen to the parts that will not cause us to drastically alter our lives.
In the gospel today, the people bring a deaf mute to Jesus. The Lord places his fingers in the poor man's ears and touches his tongue and says, "Be opened!" The man's ears are opened, and he begins to speak as well. Upon hearing the Word of God, the former deaf mute is compelled to respond to that Word. The question the gospel presents to us today is: do we listen and consequently respond to God's Word? The problem is that like in any relationship, we turn a deaf ear when we don't want to listen. We think that when we come to mass we've heard it all before especially when it's a gospel we've heard countless times. During homilies, we smile and laugh when the priest says something we agree with, but play deaf and dumb whenever he challenges us with something radical or life changing. Here's the thing, the Word of God is not static. It is very much alive and has something new for us every single time we hear it. We cannot block out those things we do not want to hear or do not want to deal with. Christ is telling us to be open to whatever he has in store for us. Be open to the promptings of his Spirit. Be open to embrace the challenge of his Divine Word. Once we listen, we are able to respond. The Word applies to every aspect of our lives and applies equally to every one. Today we must admit that we are at times deaf to what the Lord wants to tell us and ask him to open our ears, our minds, and our hearts to joyously accept his will in our lives.
