23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(B - cycle)  September  6,  2009

Once when another priest was seated to my left, he said to me, “You know, sometimes I would speak to you and you wouldn’t answer me, and I thought you were distant. Now I see the problem.  "You can’t hear!” From that direction, that is sadly true.  Now that you know my secret, more of you may be coming to me for confession.

For the 27 million Americans with hearing loss, this is no laughing matter.  When the only way others can converse with you is by shouting, they may give up trying, and the world becomes a lonely place for you.  There’s no doubt that living or interacting frequently with deaf persons can be difficult.  In a recent study, 54 per cent admitted they find it frustrating to communicate with individuals who appear not to be paying attention, due to their hearing loss, 32 per cent acknowledged feeling actual irritation in such situations while 18 per cent stated they feel ignored.

Understanding this helps us to appreciate better what a gift Jesus gave to the man in the gospel when he restored his hearing.  How good he is.  We don’t have Jesus’ healing powers, but we can do a lot to help the deaf.  We can persevere in communicating with them.  When we’re watching TV with them, we can remember to use closed captioning. We can learn how to sign.  What a blessing for Saint Timothy’s our signed masses have been.  Julie Colbert’s signing and the fervor of the hearing impaired community have been inspirational.

In commenting on this miracle, we shouldn’t forget the man also had a speech impediment. Other translations say he was mute.  In society’s harsh linguistic judgment, we sometimes call such persons “dumb”, even though they may be smarter than we are.  Again, we must not give up communicating with them, appreciating how hard it must be not to be able to express yourself, your joys and sorrows your needs in speech.

Deafness in Scripture often symbolizes deliberate refusal to hear God’s word, especially when it is difficult.  One of the most disturbing images in Scripture is the mob attacking Stephen, the first Christian martyr with their hands over their ears so they would not hear his proclamation of Jesus as the son of God who had risen from the dead.  We can hear what we want to hear and ignore the message about carrying our crosses and sacrificing ourselves for others.  May we hear the word of God, no matter how uncomfortable, and keep it.