TEXT: Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 8, 2024
September 8, 2024 Father De Celles Homily
23rd Sunday Ordinary Time
September 8, 2024
Homily by Fr. John De Celles
St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church
Springfield, VA
At its founding, America was an overwhelmingly Protestant country.
But as time passed, millions of Catholics began to immigrate in search of
new opportunities and freedom.
They found both of those, but they also found prejudice against them,
both because of their foreign habits and accents,
and because of their foreign religion, Catholicism.
So many times they had to fend for themselves
to provide health care, welfare assistance,
and schools for their children.
Most of that time this assistance was organized by and in the Church.
Great Catholics like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. John Neumann,
and St. Francis Xavier Cabrini,
founded hospitals, schools and nursing homes.
But beyond that, individual Catholics assisted each other
by simply helping their neighbor out when they needed a break.
Mr. Gambini let the rent slide for a couple months
when Mr. Andolini broke his arm and couldn’t work.
And Mrs. O’Malley organized all the mothers in the neighborhood
to make meals for the Mulligan family when Mrs. Mulligan was sick.
As time has passed, that same attentiveness to public acts of mercy and charity
has remained a part of the Catholic culture in America,
but it’s gradually been translated in very different ways.
As Catholics came to have more and more of a political voice,
we saw Catholics heavily supporting political solutions
to the problems of healthcare and poverty–
programs like Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, and aid to dependent children.
At the same time, as Catholics became more economically prosperous,
they also became very supportive financially
of great Catholic charitable institutions:
building a huge system of first class
Catholic hospitals, schools, and universities,
and establishing organizations like Catholic Charities.
All this is a great tribute to the charity of Catholics,
a great expression of the honest and deep-rooted Christian desire
to imitate the love and mercy of Jesus,
who cured the sick and “made the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
We can be proud of ourselves.
Unfortunately, this pride can lead to complacency
and even a loss of true charity.
First there’s the danger of taking charity, an act of love,
and turning it over to bureaucrats.
I mean no disrespect to so many good folks who work hard
in private and government social welfare programs.
Even these folks have to admit that so often
there’s way too much bureaucracy,
which not only inhibits their effectiveness,
but can often also transform charity from an act of love
into an act of cold administration.
One way to counter that problem is the way Catholics have so often:
by directly supporting Catholic organizations,
like the Little Sisters of the Poor,
who work with minimal administrative hassle
and with the loving touch of Christ Himself.
But, I must admit, even that doesn’t address the problem that most concerns me.
Whether it’s by paying our taxes to the government
or giving a check to the good sisters,
giving money is not enough to satisfy the Christian duty of charity.
In today’s Gospel, St. Mark tells us:
“Jesus went…into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to Him a deaf man who had a speech impediment…He put His finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue…and said to him, ‘Ephphatha!’…’Be opened!’”
Why does Jesus go to the deaf man?
After all, He’s God—He doesn’t have to go someplace to perform a miracle. Remember the words of the Roman centurion
who asked Jesus to cure his servant, but then added,
in words we now quote, or paraphrase, at every Mass:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word and my servant shall be healed.”
Why does Jesus go to the man in today’s gospel?
And why does Jesus touch the man? Why does He speak to a deaf man?
He doesn’t have to do or say a thing to heal; He just has to will it.
So, why does He do all this?
There are two basic reasons.
The first is to give us an example of love.
Christ has the power to heal from far away, but He chooses to go to the deaf man to show that He, Jesus, personally loves that man.
We also have a power similar to Christ’s, although not as mysterious.
We, too, don’t have to go to people to help them. We can simply write a check for a large amount of money that seems to perform miracles for people, even people far away, that we never actually see in person.
Fortunately, there are many Catholic charities where that money,
in a way, translates into human love
by supporting the actual personal work of good Catholics.
But in the end, does it communicate your love?
In the end, have you really given your love—or have you just given money?
The thing is, your act of love is not just necessary for the poor or sick person
—its necessary for you also!
God created you to give yourself, not just to give a check.
You can never be happy, you can never become what God created you to be,
you can never be like Jesus Christ,
if you do not personally give your love to those in need of it.
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The other reason Jesus personally healed the sick was
to show that He was the messiah that the prophets had foretold
and He had the power of God Himself.
As Isaiah prophesied in today’s first reading,
“Here is your God…
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared.”
By showing this power, people begin to listen to Him, and that’s what He wanted.
It’s no mistake that Jesus says out loud to the man who can’t even hear Him:
“Ephphatha!” “Be opened!”
By performing this miracle of love,
the ears and hearts and minds of this man and his friends
would now be open to hear Jesus.
One of the problems with sending money
and letting other people do our charitable work
is that it can totally remove Christ and His power from the picture.
This is a huge problem with lots of organizations that help those in need.
A lot of organizations, government and private,
forbid their workers to even say, “God bless you,”
much less explain that the love of Christ is the reason they’re doing their job.
Even some so-called “Catholic charities” have the same problem.
We sadly read all too often that some otherwise good Catholic organization
is giving funds to abortion providers,
taking Christ completely out of their work with that action.
_____
The Church is the Body of Christ on earth
and we, individually, are the members of the Body.
You are His hands; you are His fingers.
He sends you out to show not only your love, but also His love and His power.
He sends you to be like the people in today’s Gospel
who couldn’t help but tell everyone about His power.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you all have to
volunteer to work full-time or even part time with some charity
–although neither is a bad idea.
But it does mean that when opportunities arrive to show the mercy of Christ in your life, you must do so.
Just as the people brought the deaf man to Jesus,
every day Jesus brings someone to you who needs His mercy.
Sometimes this is in small things:
Your friend is having a bad day, so you tell him a joke to cheer him up;
or maybe she’s in the hospital and you go to visit.
Sometimes it’s in larger matters:
Maybe your elderly parents are having a hard time taking care of themselves,
so you cheerfully insist they move in with you.
Or maybe your brother lost his job,
so you support his family for a couple of months.
_____
Great acts of charity are a vital part of the history of the Catholic Church,
especially in America.
I hope that you will continue that great tradition.
Writing checks to Catholic charitable institutions is a great and necessary thing,
but it’s just not enough.
First and foremost, you have to give yourself–
your time, your presence, your sweat, your patience, your love.
Remember that the power of the check book cannot communicate your love and you cannot personally communicate Christ’s love through cash.
Hear what Christ is telling you in Scripture today: “Ephphatha. Be opened.”
And open yourselves up to live in the charity of Christ, every day, every moment.