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Twenty Third Sunday of Year B - 6th September 2009
Be Strong, Do Not Fear!
Some 40 plus years ago, Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song
entitled "The Sounds of Silence." One line referred to people talking
without speaking and hearing without listening.
Since then there has been a total explosion in the world
of global communication and yet loneliness is on the increase. People live
isolated lives, cut off from each other, feeling cut off from God. Privacy
can become a prison, while the generous can fear that reaching out may be
rejected or misunderstood. We can be deaf to each other's deepest yearning
and fearful lest we might be misunderstood.
Into that world comes Jesus with 'Ephphata' 'Be opened',
calling on us to open our ears, our minds, our hearts to hear His voice, to
hear the need in our own communities ... and to respond. We are called to
allow God's Word to live in us, then to live and act in ways that will allow
its message to spread to others. We are called to be evangelizers! Yet we
are fearful lest we be rejected, or is that we are hearing with our ears but
not with our hearts. We could well ask ourselves.
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What is it that needs to be "opened" in me to allow me
to touch the hearts of those many people thirsting for love, for community
and a relationship with God? |
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Do I listen to what others say? Do I try to hear what
they find it hard to say? |
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Do I hear the pleas of those in need? |
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Do I heed the opinions or advice of others? |
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Are my ears open to God's word, reading it, listening
to it, pondering it in the heart? |
God's graciousness was not only for the Jewish people,
but for all humanity. To all people Jesus offers the richness of divine
life. He opens our ears so that we may hear his voice, loosens our tongues
so that we may proclaim his word, and heals our paralysis so that we may
walk in his ways. In Jesus, Isaiah's words come true: "For waters shall
break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert..."
Thus we can stand firm against the many voices of
materialism and anti religions that surround us and not think of giving up
our journey of faith. For God, through the risen Jesus, is within us,
offering to slake our thirst with the abundant waters of eternal life.
"Be strong, do not fear".
Fr Kevin O'Shea, C.M. |
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