Dear Parishioners.

This Sunday is the 23^rd Sunday in ordinary time and our first reading and gospel speak of Gods capacity to cure our blindness, deafness and dumbness.

Mark, in this gospel tells of Jesus’ miracle to cure a deaf man with a speech impediment.  Often the two go hand in hand.  The inability to hear, prevents the ability to speak because we learn to make the sounds for speaking by listening to the sounds themselves. 

Now Mark describes Jesus miraculously curing these physical impediments and restoring this man’s capacity so he can fully take part in community life and society again.  We may not have the same physical impediments as the man in the gospel but we can sometimes be living a life where spiritual blindness, deafness and dumbness are impediments preventing us from thriving and fully having a relationship with God and with others.

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah invites us in our weariness, and faint heartedness to have courage because God will save us.  It is in Him where we place our hope in all the challenging realities of our lives and the world.  His promise is to cure our impediments so that we can see more clearly, hear better and so speak more audibly.

The second reading talks about the richness of faith of those in poverty.  We must always strive to help those in poverty and create a more equal society but there is an element of poverty the humbles us, and makes us more dependent on others and especially God, we seek Him out and become more dependent on Him.

So in all those situations where we feel, blind or deaf, without answer or without light we go to Jesus as the man in the gospel did and ask Him to heal us.  We trust that even thought the challenging realities may remain, His healing will give us light to see more clearly and to hear His voice that brings clarity and also the courage to keep facing those trials of our lives.  It it through a trusting relationship with Jesus and through going to Him that healing takes place and He can restore us and give us strength and courage.

Have a blessed Sunday

Sr Ann Marie, FMVD