Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
september 8, 2024 | 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Isaiah 35:4-7a; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37
Open the eyes of my heart Lord, I want to see you
Dear friends in the Lord, at the annual National prayer Breakfast on February 2, 1984, Ronald Reagan, the former president of United States told a story of Telemachus, a young Turkish monk martyr whose self-sacrifice opened the blind eyes and the deaf ears of the Romans and their fifth century Christian emperor Honorius. Led by his inner voice, Telemachus went to Rome to stop an inhuman gladiatorial fight between slaves. He followed the crowd where the gladiators were fighting and jumped into the arena and tried to stop them, shouting:
“In the name of Christ, hold back!”
The gladiators stopped and the spectators became indignant. A group of them rushed into the arena and beat Telemachus to death. When the crowd saw the brave little monk lying dead in a pool of blood, they fell silent, leaving the stadium, one by one. Three days later, because of Telemachus' heroic sacrifice of his own life, the Emperor decreed an end to the horrible games.
A world of indifference
We live in a world of indifference, insensitivity, individualism and neglect of our neighbours. Our eyes are sometimes blind to hardship, the problems, and the difficulties of others. While we turn a deaf ear to the sound of the cry of people around us, our heart is getting more and more hardened within ourselves and even incapable of gratitude and praise. Our world is not far from the Church of Laodicea described by John:
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, will I spew thee out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:16).
Today’s readings come as a remedy to this situation.
Sight Restoration
The word “Ephphatha” “Be opened” summarizes all the readings of this Sunday. The Prophet Isaiah, in the first reading (Isaiah 35:4-7) says that God stands for the frightened, oppressed; he cares for the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute and encourages the powerless to be “strong and fearless”. Like God whose eyes are always focused on the helpless, so should our eyes be opened to other brothers and sister’s predicaments.
St. James in the second reading (James 2:1-5) gives us some basic and challenging principles of social justice as a way of being open to Christ’s teaching. He warns us not to despise or shame the poor while showing special consideration to the rich. He wants us to have that preferential option for the poor in our daily living.
By healing the deaf man with a speech impediment, Jesus in today’s Gospel fulfills Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy,
"The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped."
The illnesses listed by Isaiah are symbolic of our interior illnesses: blindness to the needs of our neighbor, our unwillingness to hear God’s voice and the inability to speak words of praise and gratitude as we should in our daily lives. Through today’s miracle story, like Telemachus, St. Mark also reminds us that we are humble instruments of Christ. As followers of the Lord, our mission as the church and as individuals is to see the needs of the needy, hearing the cry of the helpless, being the voice of the voiceless and singing the praise of the Lord for his faithfulness endures forever and ever Amen. (Psalm 146)