Hearing and Speaking. Mk. 7:31-37
Jesus opens the ears of a man who can’t hear
And the tongue of him who could not speak.
Just imagine what it must be like to not to be able to hear or speak.
God has given us the gift of hearing and speaking.
But What do we listen too?
What do we talk about?
Sometimes it might be better to be deaf and mute
Than listen to the things we do and talk about the things we talk about.
The betrayal of Solomon 1 Kings. 11:4-13
Solomon is most famous for his Wisdom but what most people don’t know is he had 700 Wives.
This was not uncommon back then.
But his wives were all pagans and the led Solomon away from the Faith of David his father.
And God took away his Kingdom from him.
We have many things in our lives that threaten to take away our Faith.
And if we lose our Faith we lose the Kingdom of God.
Our Lady of Lourdes
When most people think of Lourdes they think of the Miraculous Waters.
But that was not the message of Our Lady.
The message that She gave to Bernadette was,
“Penance, Penance Penance ! Pray to God for sinners.”
So often we think that it is our words and our convictions and our wit and intelligence that others need to hear in order to change their minds.
When Penance is what Our Lady asks of us
and will go so much further to touch and change hearts.
Where does God dwell? 1 Kings 8: 22-30
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God’s hands stretch from one end of the universe to the other
From the highest mountain to the depths of the ocean.
And King Solomon built the most beautiful Temple of cedar and stone and gold for God to dwell in.
And yet Solomon wondered How could that Temple contain the God of Heaven and earth. ?
That is nothing.
We must wonder and be amazed how the God of Heaven and earth can be contained in a piece of bread.
Yet not only does the God of Heaven and earth come to dwell in this Church and in this Bread but also in us.
How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord refers to us and our souls.
Just touch His cloak Mk. 6:53-56
Jesus was surrounded by sick people
Who only wanted to touch His cloak
And be healed.
We are not going to be touching the cloak of Jesus
At Communion we are going to be touching His very Body.
How much more healing can we obtain from touching His very Body in the Eucharist we will receive at Communion.
Giving Glory to God. Mt. 5:16
Giving glory means to give credit and praise where credit and praise is due.
When the player makes the winning touchdown or shot;
The player gets all the glory;
When the General defeats the enemy,
The General gets the glory;
When a fireman saves a child from a burning building,
That fireman gets the glory.
We give glory to people;
And so should we not give glory to God.
After all God made the stars and the planets;
God made the mountains and the oceans;
God created us in our mother’s womb and will raise us up to Eternal Life on the Last Day;
Shouldn’t God get some glory too,
For all that God has done?
But how does one give glory to God?
Sts. Paul Miki and his companions
It is Japan 1597 and the persecution has begun.
The crosses are set in place and one by one Paul and his companions are crucified.
But from the pulpit of his cross,
Paul preaches to the people that he was dying for the Gospel and gave thanks to God for this moment as he pardoned his enemies.
As we carry our crosses in life;
We have an opportunity to preach to others;
What is it that we say,
From the pulpit of our cross?
