topleft05.jpg (18208 bytes)HOMILY
The Baptism of the Lord (A)
 13 January 08


 

The story is told of a man who was driving his black Range Rover one beautiful and sunny day up a steep narrow mountain road in the Rocky Mountains.  A woman was driving her silver Lexus down the same steep narrow mountain road on that beautiful and sunny day.  As the two vehicles passed each other, the woman leaned out of the window and appeared to the man to be shaking her fist at him and yelling, “PIG!!”  Instantaneously, the man leaned out of his window, pointed one of his digits upward at the woman, and screamed a truly awful word, describing the woman as a female dog.  As both continued along their way in opposite directions—the man up the mountain in his black Range Rover and woman down the mountain in her silver Lexus—the man rounded the next sharp curve in the road and, sure as shootin’, he hit a pig that was standing there smack dab in the middle of the road.

The moral of the story?

“If men would only listen to the woman in their lives who is yelling and appears to be shaking their fists at them.”

In the gospel just proclaimed, a voice came from heaven saying, “This is my beloved…with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).  While God was neither yelling from the heavens nor shaking his almighty arm, do you think Jesus heard those words?  Do you think Jesus listened to them?

I certainly think so.

But, did you know that God has said the same thing about you and me?  God has called us His “beloved…with whom I am well pleased.”  Did you hear those words when God spoke them?  Did you listen to God’s word?

Because so much in our lives conspires to make us deaf to God’s word, I think the answer to those questions for many of us is, “No.”

In the gospel story of the miraculous healing of the deaf man (Mark 7:32-34), Jesus made what was impossible—a deaf man to hear—possible—a man to hear and to listen.  That story says:

They brought to Jesus a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.  Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and Jesus spat and touched his tongue.  Then looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to the deaf man, “Ephatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and the man spoke plainly.

Ephatha,” that is, “be opened.”

In the Sacrament of Baptism, the priest anoints the ears of the person being baptized, symbolizing the opening of the sense of spiritual hearing that will make the newly-baptized capable of hearing and, then, listening to the Spirit of God within.  The “Ephatha of Baptism,” as it is called, frees up that inner sense of spiritual hearing in order that the baptized—that is, ordinary people like you and me—will hear and listen to the Spirit of God within and, hopefully, will respond wholeheartedly to it.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  The Sacrament of Baptism, as we practice it in the Catholic Church, then, has opened for all of us a way to develop and strengthen our ability to hear and to listen to the Spirit of God within.

When God created us in cooperation with our parents, God breathed His divine spirit into us, what Eastern Christians call the “divine image and likeness,” making us an “icon” of God.  The Book of Genesis tell us that this “breath of God”— which makes us God’s “beloved”—transformed what otherwise would have been, at a minimum, an animal and, a bit better, a rational animal.  It made us like God, each of whom possess a mystery within that we must correctly decipher to live as God created us, that is, if we are to bring to fulfillment what God has breathed into us—that which makes God “well pleased.”  To hear God say, “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased” is to be fulfilled beyond our wildest imaginings as we experience the peace and happiness which St. Paul says is “beyond all understanding” (Philemon 4:7).

This “inner law of creation” doesn’t help us to survive.  No, it enables us to become that unique and unrepeatable individual in all of human history that God has created with a particular purpose, what Pope John Paul II called a “personal vocation.”  We’re not here due to some random fluctuation that caused one sperm to beat out all of those other sperms to fertilize some lucky ovum.  No, the inner law of creation set into motion something that God has intended from the beginning.  Then, as we become what God intended for us, that is where we discover our true peace and happiness.  That is, as we are transformed into that icon of God, a person who is hears and listens to the Spirit of God within, we become that revelation of God—like Jesus the only begotten Son of God—for all the world to behold.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”

What happens to us more often than not, however, is that we don’t hear God saying “This is my beloved” because we’re too busy looking for peace and happiness everywhere but in the divine life that God has already been breathed into us.  Many of us become deaf because we look for peace and happiness in material possessions, in power, in careers, and in being self-determining and autonomous human beings who are answerable only to ourselves.  As our deafness increases, we find ourselves hurting because we don’t experience the peace and happiness we long for in chasing after and, then, possessing all of those things.  So, having become incapable of hearing the word of God, we then look for peace and happiness by anesthetizing the frustration, pain, and unhappiness that is attributable to our wandering further and further away from God.  And so, it is not unusual that people who are following this path end up seeking comfort as they fulfill their anesthetizing addictions, including the use of drugs, narcotics, alcohol, and illicit sexual expression, to name a few that are prevalent today.

Sadly, the simple fact is that all of us in some way—for some of us, in greater ways, and for others of us, in lesser ways—have cluttered our lives with so many distractions that we do are incapable of hearing what God is saying.  We become so busy with so many things, like Martha, that we don’t do the one thing that is necessary, like Mary (Luke 10:41-42).

Yet, no matter how deaf we’ve grown, the Spirit of God breathed into us when God created us continues to speak to us, reminding us that “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”

All of us have grown deaf in one degree or another to the divine life that God has already breathed into us.  How might we put aside all of those distractions and become better acquainted with our inner, spiritual—our divine—life?  The answer is simple: all we need to do is to hear the word of God and, then, listen to it.  Now, that’s something easier said than done, especially with all of the distractions around us making us deaf to God’s word.

A good place to start, believe it or not, is by re-familiarizing ourselves to the ten most important lessons concerning how to lead a truly happy life, what are called the “Ten Commandments.”

The first three commandments remind us of the value of recognizing that we are creatures not the Creator.  We subjects, not sovereigns—creatures of the Creator—whose purpose is to be obedient not obstinate.  Did you hear?  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  Love of God comes first.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  Someone who is obedient not obdurate.

The fourth and sixth commandments focus upon the human body and, in particular, the value of the parents and family as well as of the value of the body, sexuality, and faithful love.  Happiness is discovered when we are respectful not abusive of our parents, our bodies, and the wonderful and mysterious physical, spiritual, and moral powers God has endowed us with.  Did you hear?  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  Honor your parents and members of your family.  Being modest and chaste makes you beautiful.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  An individual who respects and is not abusive of others and oneself.

The fifth commandment points to the value of all human life.  We are to honor not disgrace each other from the moment of conception to natural death.  Did you hear?  All human life is precious in God’s eyes.  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  A person who is honorable not disgraceful in one’s dealings with others.

The seventh commandment speaks about the value of being satisfied with our material possessions and, in short, of being satisfied when we possess everything we need: the basics of food, shelter, clothing, and belonging to a family.  Did you ever reflect upon how screwed up things become in life simply because we want what we don’t need and sometimes so much so that we actually believe that what others possess belongs to us?  Did you hear?  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  Be satisfied that you have what you need.  Everything else is gravy, not the main course.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  Someone who is grateful to possess what one needs and does not make his own what belongs to others.

The eighth commandment reminds us of the value of truth and of being truthful.  It doesn’t take a doctoral degree from a highly-reputed university to know that dishonesty engenders mistrust, hostility, and, ultimately, the breakdown of good order in our relationships, our homes, and our world as well.  Did you hear?  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  Just as God’s word is trustworthy, so must your word be trustworthy.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.”  An individual who speaks the truth and is not deceitful in his dealings with others.

The ninth and ten commandments describe the value of respecting what belongs to others.  While the seventh commandment concerns theft—appropriating to ourselves what belongs others—the ninth and tenth commandments concern avarice—the desire to possess—which, left unchecked, can end in theft.  Think about how the unbridled desire to possess the latest, the greatest, and the best can transform us in such ways that we treat material things and people, too, as if they are disposable commodities.  So, we when we see all of our neighbor’s gadgets, toys, and gizmos, we allow ourselves to become frustrated with our possessions and we say to ourselves and sometimes, to others: “I’ve gotta have this.  I can’t live without it.”  Frustrated with our spouse, we all our eye to wander and we start desiring our neighbor’s spouse.  Do you hear?  Are you listening?  “Ephatha,” that is “be opened.”  Thinking that nothing we possess is ever good enough and the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence actually makes us dependent upon those things and people.  “This is my beloved…in whom I am well pleased.  Someone who is happy with his blessings and respectful of how God has blessed others.

If you’ve noticed, the values embodied in the Ten Commandments reveal how unhappy we become when we believe ourselves greater than our Creator.  We believe the world is our “oyster,” something that belongs to us and God help anyone who would get in our way.  In this arbitrary and egotistical world, there is no light and hope because we have grown deaf to the Spirit of God breathed into us when God created us and freed from within when the priest said “Ephatha”—“be opened”—at our baptism.  Then, because we do not hear, we cannot listen.  And, because we cannot listen, we do not live by the values embodied in the Ten Commandments and experience darkness and despair.

So, assuming we are willing to hear the Spirit of God within, how do we then become good listeners?

The answer is simple, “Ephatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  Allow the God’s word to open our spiritual ears to God’s truth and love and invite the power of God’s grace to unleash God’s word so that we may live the values embodied in the Ten Commandments.  All it takes on our part is to desire to be obedient, respectful, honorable, grateful, truthful, and thankful.

Ephatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  Jesus’ words are significant and instructive—yesterday, today and tomorrow.  And, when our ears are opened and we listen to the Spirit of God within, God says of us as he said of Jesus: “This is my beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Mathew 3:17).

 

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