The deaf will hear, the mute will speak, the lame will leap like a young stag. Those words from the prophet Isaiah form part of this week’s first reading. For us older people, our hearing is challenged. We search for the right words to use. Leaping around like a young deer is probably the last thing on our to-do list. So, we know that the Messiah doesn’t seem to be coming quickly, but with all the issues in life, we cannot just sit back and watch the world go by. We need to engage ourselves in living.

In the Gospel, we have Jesus performing a very tangible type of healing. The deaf mute wanted to hear and speak just like everyone else. When we hear and read Jesus’ many acts of curing people, we may wonder why doesn’t Jesus just say to the man: “OK. You’re cured.” Instead, Jesus gets very hands on. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears, he spits, he touches the man’s tongue, and groans the words “be opened.” It almost sounds as if he is struggling, but the gospel quickly points out that the man was immediately healed.

Now, you may say something like: “That was then. This is now. What can we learn from this saving work of Jesus?” This Gospel may not be surprising to us, for we who have heard the other Gospel stories know that Jesus is simply being himself: He is doing the will of the Father, which is to bring healing. Yet if our familiarity with Jesus’ healing power compromises our awe at his goodness, then we are in exactly the same position as the deaf man at the story’s beginning. If our reaction is simply, well just another miracle, what’s the big deal, then we, too, need to rebuild a right relationship with God, and we need healing to hear his voice again. The healed heart not only hears Jesus the healer but also runs to him and begs for the help we need, that our families and friends need, that our world needs.

You see, we may have become deaf to the words of Jesus. We may hear the noise of the words, but we miss the content of what he is saying and doing. We sometimes don’t let Jesus touch us as he touched the man in the Gospel.

Thankfully, part of Jesus’ mission – his being who he is – restores us to right relationship with God. He comes for us, whether or not we know how much we need him, and he longs to give us what we need. In the Gospel Jesus groaned when he pronounced the words “Be Open.” The Lord’s groans to heaven are for us – for you and for me – to be open to receive all we need from him.

We come to church to celebrate the Eucharist. Each Mass is not just another Mass. Why? Well, at this Mass, we are not the same people we were last week. Many events in our own lives and in the world around us have changed us. As a country, we struggle, crime surrounds us, COVID reappears every now and then, countries are at war. Likewise, we should be concerned about those many people who are suffering pain and anguish from natural disasters. And we can rightfully wonder whether or not we will ever be able to resolve the immigration issues, inflation, human trafficking, and whatever other deviation from what God intended can arise in our lives.

So, we may not be deaf and mute, but we are a people who need healing. So many of our human efforts have failed and failed miserably. Perhaps our failures stem from the fact that we rely totally on ourselves rather than our creator and redeemer. Instead of pretending that we are totally in charge, maybe we need to open our hearts and ears to the word of God as well as use our gift of speech to bring hope and healing to others. Perhaps, we should look to the healing message of Jesus in the Gospels to figure out how we should face the reality of the world.

When we approach the Eucharistic table, let us seek what we need. Our God is the God of healing, forever worthy of our thanks and praise.