September 06, 2009 23rd Ordinary Sunday of the Year Is. 35:4-7; James 2:1-5; Mk. 7:31-37 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:http://www.usccb.org/nab/090609.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Some people brought to Jesus a deaf man. Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. He looked up toward heaven as he spoke toward the man: Ephphatha! Be Opened! And the man could suddenly hear. His tongue became loose. And he could talk plainly.   Healing of any kind is always a mark of God's presence and reign. When God rules, there is wholeness of body, mind and spirit. There is no such thing as an isolated healing ministry for the sake of physical healing alone. It is not as though Jesus came into the world to make all the sick people better or to eradicate sickness in the physical sense. The physical side of healing is a part but not the point of God's healing presence in our lives.   The promise here is that God will bring final healing and wholeness. Jesus' ministry is a penetration of that divine intent into a broken world. The principle continues through the Body of Christ which is to continue the ministry Jesus gave to us. Healing, of every kind, is a part of that ministry.   In his ministry, Jesus came to bring the power and the presence of God's creative, loving Spirit to bear on our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives. Where there was evil, he brought goodness. Where there was darkness, he brought light. Where there was emptiness, he brought fullness and meaning. Where there was sickness, he brought health.   The good news is news about the reign of God in the whole of our lives. This means we may pray for those who need wholeness of every kind and we may pray for the physical well being of others with the certain knowledge that these prayers flow from the heart Christ himself.   Every single one of us has at one time or another urgently prayed that God would intervene in someone's life and bring about a miraculous healing. We are to be faithful in prayer and trusting in God's ability to bring about the eventual best possible circumstances for us. We are not, however, to expect that God's healing action in our lives is an "on demand" kind of thing because the issue of divine healing is always related to the kingdom of God.     <<   Previous: 22nd Sunday of the Year  |   Next: 24th Sunday of the Year >>     Go Back to SERMONS (Year B)