A woman by the name of Marion sent me an interesting email this week - “Going to church does not make you a good Christian....anymore than standing in a garage makes you into a car!” So what does make you a faithful disciple of Christ - a good Christian? As Msgr. Aubin so powerfully said two weeks ago in the homily - it is hearing the Word of God an acting upon it. The gospel today speaks of hearing or the lack of hearing - we may not be deaf but the gospel asks each of us if we are listening to - really hearing the Word of God and responding to it.
Two friends were walking down a crowded city sidewalk in the midst of the busy, noisy rush hour traffic- they were near Rockefeller Center in New York City. People were bustling about, horns honking, engines roaring, vehicles of all sizes rumbling, sirens blaring. Amid all of this noise, one friend suddenly turned to the other and said, “Listen! I hear a cricket!” “Come on!” the other friend shot back. “How can you possibly hear a cricket in the middle of all of this noise.? Are there even crickets in the city?” “But I did hear a cricket.” She stopped to listen again, then with her cynical friend in tow, crossed the busy street to a big cement planter. It was right near the Winter Ice Skating Rink. Gently pushing aside the petunias and the impatiens, she revealed a little brown cricket. “That’s amazing!” “How could you have possibly heard it?” “There’s no secret,” she explained. “Watch.”
She then reached into her pocket and pulled out some loose change and dropped a quarter on the sidewalk. Despite the deafening noise around them, everyone within twenty feet turned their heads to see where the sound of the money was coming from. The woman turned to her doubting friend and said, “See, it’s all a matter of what you’re listening for.”
In the midst of all the noise in our lives, we can become “deaf” to the presence of God in our midst. Fear and ignorance often distort our ability to hear: to hear that we are truly loved by our God; to hear with all the noise of anger and hate, the call to be forgiving and compassionate, to hear what is good in the midst of the bad, to hear the strong reasons for hope in the wake of despair, to hear the voice of God’s infinite patience and understanding and gentleness trying to coax us out of dankness and chaos, out of deafness and resentment into a life of gratitude, a life of love, a life of trust in God’s goodness.
The words Jesus speaks to the deaf man in today’s Gospel - “Ephphatha” are spoken to US, as well: “open” - open our hearts and spirits to experience God’s compassion in the love of family and friends, to realize Gods’ presence in all times and places, to embrace God’s grace and love despite our difficulty to trust, to hope, to understand.
Discipleship is centered in Jesus’ spirit of Ephphatha: “Openness” to the presence of God in times of joy and sorrow, “openness” to becoming for others the realization of his healing and life for those unable to sense it. If we can hear the captivating sound of a dropped quarter.....then we certainly should be able to hear the sounds of the poor, the lonely, the sick, the dying, and our family and friends who are in need. Let those who have ears to hear, listen closely, for our God is speaking love and life to us in this complex and frightening world. Amen