Commentary, 8th september 2024

«He has done everything well.»

Dear brothers and sisters, peace and blessings.

In the Bible, blindness, deafness, paralysis, and being mute often refer to Israel – «Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears» (Isaiah 43:8). The prophets often repeat that this is a people who close their ears to the voice of their God and, without having heard His Word, are unable to proclaim it. But the Lord – the prophet assures us – will intervene on behalf of Israel. That’s why the first reading starts off well. We could say it’s a song of hope.

Today’s text comes from the second Isaiah, the prophet who announces the return from exile. Surely this poem would be comforting to the exiles in Babylon, back in the 6th century, people «with tired hands, with shaky knees, with troubled hearts.» With few reasons for hope, let’s face it. In spite of everything, God is always near. And He cares about – and takes care of – everyone.

However, fear, more often than we’d like, grips us. We’re afraid of not knowing what the future holds, the possibility of being attacked, getting sick… There’s also fear of difficulty, and yes, fear of death. These words from Isaiah invite us to lift our gaze, to be brave, to have a strong heart. Because God is strong, very strong, and has infinite power. He can do everything, and He comes in person. He wants to come to that very place where you are now, so you can stand firm. He is near, and He brings relief from so much pain and misery. He gives you the courage to keep walking towards the Light.

That fear silences us, doesn’t let us say a word of help, of compassion. In that state, Isaiah’s prophecy takes on a new meaning, because God gives light to our eyes, opens our ears, and revitalizes our tongue. We can rejoice, because «waters have burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.»

This week we’re also accompanied by the Letter of the Apostle James. And he asks us a question that can give us food for thought: How do we judge people? Or, put another way, do we understand that we are all brothers and sisters, or do we look at people with suspicion, even fear? It’s inevitable that there are differences between us, but what God doesn’t tolerate is favoritism. In our churches, we generally don’t have the problem that James mentions. But the problem is outside.

There are the materially poor, and there’s another kind of poor, who aren’t just poor because they don’t have money, but because they’re at a disadvantage in the world. Because they don’t have an education, because they don’t have a decent job, because they don’t have their papers in order, for example. The community should pay more attention to these people, to differentiate itself from those who aren’t believers. May they not be left lying by the roadside, like the man who was robbed and beaten by bandits. Let’s be good Samaritans.

Every illness in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, was a punishment from the Lord. But deafness, in particular, was an image of rejecting the Word. It represents the condition of the man who listens to other voices, seductive voices, but ones that don’t give life. Not being able to hear the word of God is a serious problem, but the Lord has promised to remedy it. Because the deaf person cannot hear the Good News, and cannot react. He lives isolated, locked in his own world. He has not been able to know Jesus or hear his Gospel. And, let’s not forget, there are those who are deaf from birth, and those who are deaf because they don’t want to hear. They live well without God.

We are not like that, in principle, although sometimes it’s hard for us to hear the voice of God. What can we do? How can we fight our spiritual deafness?

The first thing, perhaps, would be to fight against our personal selfishness. To stop thinking only of ourselves, to stop listening to the voice that says we should only take care of ourselves, and to open up. Opening up allows us to go out and meet our brothers and sisters, so that our words and our deeds, our faith and our life are consistent. To say and to do. How do I relate to my brothers and sisters and to the Lord? What are my words like, and what are my deeds like? Do I believe in what I do, and do I do what I believe?

Also, for the Lord to heal our deafness, we have to seek Him. We can’t allow the Lord to always be the one who comes to meet us. We have to get close. Are we within reach of the Lord? Do we put ourselves in a position to change? Are we willing to do that? There are many ways. Sacraments, the Word, prayer…

On the other hand, the deaf-mute «lets himself be done to.» He is docile. We can also ask that, when we present ourselves before the Lord, we do so with docility. That we don’t let ourselves become worldly, that we are faithful to God. That He may open our ears, awaken our sensitivity to feel His presence (like the blind man by the roadside), so that He may give us comfort, health, and hope.

Today there are many means and interests determined to produce deafness to anything that sounds like Church, like spirituality. To face them, we have to clean our ears often, so that the authentic message of Jesus reaches us. In this way, we too will be able to say, like Jesus’ contemporaries, that He has done everything well, also in our lives. It’s possible. We just have to be attentive, and let God act.

Your brother in faith,

Alejandro, C.M.F.