Sunday 23 B (2012) (with our confirmation candidates in mind)

This evening I want to talk mostly to those who are soon to be confirmed.

One of the things we have been looking at in our groups

is the way Jesus interacted with people in the gospel.

How he showed what he wanted for them,

and what he could give them,

with his words and gestures.

We have just had one of those kind of stories,

by the gospel-writer Mark.

People bring a man to Jesus:

did you notice that

they brought him a deaf man

who couldn't speak properly and

they asked him to lay his hand on him

The man doesn’t come on his own:

he is helped, he is accompanied.

You don’t come to confirmation alone:

you are helped and accompanied too

by family, by catechists, by friends,

by this community of St William’s, by the wider Church.

Jesus

took the man aside in private,

touched his ears and tongue,

prayed to God the Father

(at least that is I reckon Mark means when he says)

looking up to heaven Jesus sighed

and then Jesus said

‘Ephphatha’, that is ‘be opened’.

This is one of only a few places where we are told

what Jesus actually said: Ephphatha; Ephphatha

‘be opened’

That is what Jesus wants for the man,

that is what he offers him: to be opened.

And his ears were opened

and his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.

And that is what Jesus wants for us too:

‘be opened’.

Now I am sure you are thinking,

I’m not deaf, and I can speak fine,

so what does this have to do with me.

Well it has a lot to do with you,

and it has some special connections to your confirmation.

You were all baptised when you were small.

Now, after baptising a baby,

the book telling the priest what to do says:

The Priest touches the ears and the mouth of the child with his thumb,

– of course that is to call to mind the gospel we are talking about now.

At the same time the priest says a prayer:

The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.

May he soon touch your ears to receive his word

and your mouth to proclaim his faith,

to the praise and glory of God the Father.

This prayer points to a deeper meaning of Jesus’

‘be opened’

It is not about being able to hear this [ring bell]

and then being able to say ‘I heard a bell’.

It is about, as the prayer says,

being open to receive Jesus’ word,

paying attention to what he says to us

to who he is, what he wants for us, and who he wants us to be.

It is about getting to know Jesus.

Then the speaking is our response,

for we praise God

by expressing our faith and trust in Jesus his Son.

When you were baptised,

there was Christian faith in your family

and the desire in that family to bring you up as a follower of Jesus.

Parents, godparents, and all present at your baptism

were asked to express that faith,

but you weren’t

because you couldn’t.

In every Sunday Mass

we recall our own baptism and express our faith when we

join together to say the ‘I believe’.

So, as you have grown up,

you have started to express your own faith.

This growing in faith shouldn’t finish when you are confirmed,

or when you become an adult,

or when you retire, or ever.

Keep listening to Jesus, and that growing never stops.

On the day you are confirmed

you will be asked the baptismal questions for yourselves:

and you will answer on your own behalf,

through the touch of Jesus.

That touch of Jesus isn’t the same as for the man in the gospel.

For us, every one of us,

that touch is through the Christian community.

Family, priests, catechists, school, friends, the wider church:

all play their part in opening our ears

to hear about the love that is God,

and loosening our tongues to express our faith in that love.

Some do it by teaching and explanation,

some do it by the example of their lives,

some do it by their prayer for us.

The Church has existed for 2000 years

by the Spirit of Jesus,

the Holy Spirit, working through one generation

to open the ears of the next

and fill them with the Spirit of Jesus.

So today, in this Mass,

we all rejoice in the marvels the Lord works for us:

for, as the people in today’s gospel said,

‘He has done all things well’.