23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B

by Fr. Jeff  |  09/15/2024  |  From the Clergy

In this week’s Gospel of Mark, Jesus speak in his native Aramaic language. He says “Ephphatha!” Meaning, “Be opened,” as he touched the man’s ears and his tongue, to heal his deafness and his speech impediment. In Christ’s healings, he restores the people from their defects and their wounds, a consequence from Original Sin.

I had a speech impediment when I was eight years old. I wasn’t born with it, I learned it. By nature, was meek, an introvert like 39% Americans. Statistically, most priests are introverts preferring quiet, reflective time alone for prayer, to rejuvenate. But my meekness was extreme to the point of being a vice, i.e., timidity. Children cannot escape the wounds that come from divorce; I needed both parents to help pull me out of my shell. My impediment was environmental due to fear; I stammered, or ‘stuttered’. In my shame, I prayed to God to help me to stop! Then it happened; it was about the time I received my First Holy Communion. It was through the priest, ‘In persona Christi’, (in the person of Christ), the finger of God touched my tongue with His Holy Eucharist. Shortly after receiving Communion every week, I stopped stuttering.

As infants, we have all received Grace through Baptism when the priest touched our ears and our mouths to “Be Opened!” And when I was wounded, I believe it was Grace that healed my affliction at First Communion. This is the power of the Holy Sacraments as we all encounter the living God. Jesus desires we hear the Father’s praises and proclaim Him from the heights, for all the world to hear . . . for the glory of God.

- Fr. Jeff