


Reflection
The stories of Jesus’ miraculous healings are more than just an account of a particular event in time. These stories are not just offered as evidence that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. These stories of physical healings also have a spiritual meaning meant for all people in all times.
Today’s Gospel account of Jesus healing the deaf and mute man shows how Jesus wants to intercede in our lives in a very close and intimate way. Jesus could have just used the power of his words to heal the man, like the healing of the hemorrhaging woman or the crippled man lowered through the roof. In the healing of the deaf and mute man, Jesus is showing us how His love for us is personal. He takes the man away from the crowd. Jesus uses his very person, literally his finger and his own saliva, to enter the man’s ears and tongue. The man is becoming one with Jesus.
We have the same opportunity to become one with Jesus through the sacraments. When we are anointed at Baptism and Confirmation, we become one with Jesus as His beloved child, and as His disciple. In the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, we are being purified and healed spiritually through the words of absolution and the anointing with oil. But the most intimate way we can experience the power and love of God is through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, where we receive the very body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus.
Do we fully understand and appreciate the intimate love and grace that Jesus gives us in these sacraments? Unfortunately, sometimes it is we who are spiritually deaf and unable to hear those powerful and intimate words of love in the sacraments. We may hear the words, “The Body of Christ” when receiving Holy Communion. But do these words penetrate our hearts? Do we feel a change taking place that makes us different than when we walked into church? We may say the word “Amen” when receiving Jesus in our hand or mouth. But are our tongues freed to speak to others about the love and power of Jesus that we just received? Or are we spiritually mute and unable to tell others the message of love that Jesus has for us?
Let us resolve to fully appreciate what Jesus does for us in the sacraments. Let us respond as those in today’s Gospel did and tell others that “Has done all things well.”
Today’s Question for Prayer and Reflection
How will you respond to the intimate love of Jesus through the reception of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist?